שתיל - שירותי תמיכה וייעוץ לקידום שינוי חברתי

Fearing injury to the environment and to public health in the south, SHATIL is coordinating an initiative and providing media assistance to an array of environmental organizations worried that a hit from a Hamas rocket on southern strategic facilities or plants housing hazardous materials may result in serious environmental and health dangers. In an urgent letter to Environment Minister, Gideon Ezra and Home Front head Yair Golan, accompanied by a press release, the organizations demanded to know what steps are being taken to protect the public in the event of such a strike. The letter reminds the government that it has not yet budgeted and implemented all the recommendations from a post-Lebanon war commission on war-related environmental hazards which it committed to act upon.

The letter demands an update from the government on a number of war-related issues that affect public health, asking, for example, if procedures were established for the evacuation or protection of hazardous materials during an emergency. The letter is part of the organizations' long-term monitoring of government actions to protect the public from exposure to harmful materials in the Negev.