New system to link Israel's emergency services

JERUSALEM - An Israeli government committee has recently given greenlight to a new communication system for it to integrate the police, military, medical and environmental networks to serve the country's emergency services, the Ynet news site reported Sunday.

The Ministerial Committee for Home Front Defense said the system will link the police, the army's Home Front Command, the Magen David Adom emergency medical services and the Environment Protection Ministry's Hazardous Materials Unit in one communications network.

Each of these bodies will be given its own frequency, which will be integrated in the event of a national emergency, such as rocket attacks from multiple fronts or natural disasters, according to the report.

The development of the universal system began in the wake of the 2006 Lebanon War, when Israel's first responders' community was largely caught ill-prepared in dealing with more than 2,000 rockets fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel's cities and communities.

A deadly forest fire in northern Israel in December 2010, which claimed 44 lives, accelerated the work on the system, which is scheduled to become fully operational in 2016, the report said.