Last update - 00:00 21/08/2007
Home Front Command head: No total protection from Qassams
By Motti Bassok and Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondents
Home Front Command head Major General Yitzhak Gershon told the Knesset on Monday that it is impossible to fully protect structures from a direct Qassam rocket hit.
He was responding to criticism of Home Front Command during the Second Lebanon War in a report published by the State Comptroller.
Gershon said that attention had been paid to all problems highlighted by the report, but warned that there was still a great deal of work to do.
He accused local authorities of various inadequacies, saying the responsibility for incidents such as the chemical spillage in Ramat Hovav last week lay with local authorities and not the Home Front Command.
"An accident like the one in Ramat Hovav can occur every day," he said, "but the local authorities have not taken any action to provide security for the public against dangerous chemicals and other materials."
Gershon added that local authorities did not provide adequate bomb shelters for civilians.