It’s a modest looking system in olive green. Called the iron dome, it’s Israel’s best protection against rockets frequently rained on it by the Hamas in the Gaza Strip to its South and the Hezbollah from Lebanon and Syria on the north. It was very much in action on Saturday when Hamas launched an all-out attack on Israel. An air defence system developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the iron dome has been helping to spot and intercept every projectile, be it a rocket or a mortar, fired into its territory since 2011. Speaking to the Express last November, Lt Col Jonathan Conricus (retd), a military diplomat of Israeli Defense Force (IDF), who once served as a combat commander for the Gaza Strip, says the dome has intercepted over 3000 projectiles in the last 10 years. “With both Hamas and Hezbollah developing long range capability, 3.5 million Israelis are vulnerable to such attacks,” says Conricus, who claims that intelligence inputs show that Hamas has amassed 30,000 rockets while the Hezbollah has over a lakh. Before yesterday, the previous attack the country faced was in May 2021 when Hamas fired more than 4,360 rockets and mortars, killing 13 people in 11 days. “While 680 fell short in the Gaza Strip from where these were launched, 1000 landed in the open terrain.’’ says Lt Col Conricus. According to the Begin-Sadat Centerfor Strategic Studies, an Israeli think-tank, the misfires killed 91 persons in Gaza where 260 persons were killed in the 11 days of fighting. A typical Iron dome battery or unit comprises three launchers, each with 20 interceptors. “The radar is the hero the system, it scans Gaza five times a second and the second a projectile is fired, the radar picks it up a second and half later, figures out its trajectory, and the place it’s going to hit.’’ Based on this finding, missiles are sent to intercept these rockets. Each interceptor hits the rocket mid-air and destroys it. With the intercepting missiles costing USD 50,000 each, it’s an expensive solution but has a success rate of around 96 percent. “Our experts are working to scale down the cost, they have already halved it from USD 100,000,’’ says Conricus who feels the iron dome units also save Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip by preventing large-scale crackdown by the IDF. At Netiv HaAsara, a moshav (a cooperative settlement ) that lies 400 meters away from the edge of the Palestinian town of Beit Lahiya, the mobile dome, which has a range of up to 70 kms, is a godsend though it has not made the ubiquitous bomb shelters obsolete. Every home has one, so do schools, offices and businesses. The ones most visible are the colourfully painted shelters next to bus stops. Hila Fenlon , a farmer and mother of two at NetivHaAsara, remembers the first time a rocket was fired at the community 21 years ago. “I was nine months pregnant wheh the first attack took place. There was tremendous media interest across the globe, we were on TV, but the rockets kept falling and soon the world lost interest‘’ As per a 1951 civil defense law, all homes and ofices in Israel are required to have bomb shelters. The IDF has calculated the reaction time of every community to reach bomb shelters based on its proximity to a hostile border. While residents of Netiv HaAsara get 15 seconds to run to a shelter, those in Jerusalem get 1 minute 42 seconds. But the trauma lasts much longer. Hila recounts how her young children would bathe with the door open and how even now, the first question three-year-olds ask when visiting another family is about the location of their bomb shelter. At Afeka College of Engineering in Tel Aviv, Mol, a 23-year-old who was a medic during her conscription, says over a year after the May 21 Hamas attack last year, even the loud sound of wind seems like a siren. “It doesn’t go away.’’ Am Shekel, who manages the Kerem Shalom border crossing, at the junction of the Gaza Strip–Israel border and the Gaza–Egypt border, rues that rocket attacks disrupt the supply of essentials to Palestinians living in Gaza. “Some of the best friends I have live in Gaza, be it food, fuel or construction material, all the supplies go from this crossing. But when the rockets start falling, life becomes hell.’’ Rockets pose an existentialist threat to the country, says a retired Brigadier General who has been staving off attacks from the Hezbollah at the Golan Heights during his service. IDF experts estimate that if both Hamas and Hezbollah join hands, they would be able to fire 4000 rockets a day for a month. “That would be a disaster. We don’t have so many batteries of the iron dome.,’’ says Conricus. There are other dangers as well. On May 31 this year, Israel disabled an electronic system activated by the Hamas to incapacitate the communication between the radar and interceptors of the iron domes. Tunnels: The war under your feet The border between Israel and Gaza is well neigh impenetrable. Almost. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have erected an 8-metre-high fence of fortified steel along the 65 kms of the Gaza Strip from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kerem Shalom crossing. There are cameras and sensors to monitor every micro movement. But Hamas tried to overcome this defence by digging tunnels to launch a surprise attack on the Israel forces behind the front lines. After busting a number of such tunnels , the IDF has now built a one meter thick underground concrete wall loaded with sensors. “Now if the Hamas tries to dig underground, it raises an alarm,’’ says Lt Col Conricus. Thanks to these advancements, Israel has taken out more than 20 cross-border tunnels since 2017. In 2006, Hamas had used a tunnel to capture Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Ten years later, then Hamas deputy leader Ismail Haniyeh had claimed they had twice the number of tunnels used by Communist guerrillas in Vietnam against the US forces. (The writer visited Israel at the invitation of the Israeli government in November 2022)
