Haifa is on high alert due to the escalating security tensions in the north. On Monday evening, rockets launched from Lebanon set off sirens in Haifa and the Carmel Ridge, marking the first major rocket attack on Israel’s third-largest city since the 2006 Lebanon War. Israeli air defenses intercepted several rockets, while others landed in unpopulated areas. In total, approximately 130 to even 150 rockets were fired at northern Israel throughout the evening, affecting the Haifa Bay, Acco, and the Golan Heights. The IDF responded with a large-scale aerial assault on more than 800 Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, targeting rocket and missile storage sites.
The IDF Spokesman issued a statement Monday confirming that the military has attacked 1,300 Hezbollah targets, including houses where large missiles were hidden on hydraulic launchers, ready to strike Israel’s home front. These sites contained cruise missiles, heavy rockets with 1,000-kilogram warheads, medium-range rockets capable of reaching up to 200 km, short-range rockets, and Ziad 107 armed unmanned aerial vehicles.
For more on this, listen to today’s Israel Daily News Podcast.
Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of “complex days ahead” as the conflict with Hezbollah escalates, vowing strong retaliatory actions.
Rockets from Hezbollah fired toward and past Haifa in the early hours of Sunday morning as well, and on Tuesday, where they directly targeted Haifa. The IDF has officially named the operation in the north “Operation Northern Arrows.”
In an update from a story The Israel Daily News shared in August, Rambam Hospital has initiated its war hospital plan to convert its underground parking garage into a hospital. As a result of the ongoing security situation in the north, all elective surgeries at Rambam have been canceled.
Rambam has the biggest underground hospital in the world, and The Israel Daily News went to Haifa last month to review the facilities needed to assist and relocate patients. It was constructed due to the consequences of the 2006 Lebanon War and opened in 2014. In non-war days, it operates as an underground parking lot. The original hospital opened in 1938 and is the main hospital in Northern Israel, serving 2.5 million residents. Rambam treats the most trauma patients out of any other hospital in Israel, and they are known for their level 1 trauma center. They have 2,200 beds (1,100 above ground, and 1,100 underground), and employ more than 5,000 people total.
“So in case something happens, we all go down, we desert the above ground and all of us come here where it’s totally safe to work. And that gives us the possibility since the 7th of October to continue working regularly,” said Michael Halberthal, the Director General of Rambam Hospital.
“For the people who are going along the streets, we have a special device that we can open up the shelters from distance and we should use it. We are training people every week. We are training the areas according to what happened in the second Lebanese war,” said Haifa’s Mayor, Yona Yahav.
Maj. David Avraham, who serves as IDF Spokesperson, said that Haifa is targeted more due to its large civilian population. He also highlighted the difference between Israeli UAVs versus enemy UAVs. In Israel, military UAVs are unmanned aerial vehicles that have been designed to strike precisely with as minimal collateral damage as possible in enemy territory.
Another safety risk for Haifa is the danger of hazardous materials and water supply in the city’s industrial zone. In the circumstance of rocket fire, emergency protocols involve diluting and neutralizing chemicals ahead of time. Having been put into practice in various drills over the years, these measures are being taken now to prevent environmental disasters and ensure public safety.
Haifa’s history predates modern Israel. Haifa’s first mayor, Hasan Bay Shukri was an Arab Muslim who worked hard to lock arms with the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities of Haifa, and today, his work is still in action, and Haifa’s mayors have followed in his footsteps. Today, the University of Haifa is the largest mixed university in Israel, with a 35% Arab population.
To hear the full audio report with voices from Haifa’s mayor, IDF officials and the Director General at Rambam Medical Center, listen to the Israel Daily News Podcast special report.
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