Threatened by Hezbollah rockets and missiles from Iran, residents of Arab towns in northern Israel are complaining about a lack of public shelters.
Mayor Mazen Ghanayem of the town of Sakhnin said, 'The state is obliged to build public shelters so that the entire population has access to safe havens.'
However, Sakhnin has no public shelter worthy of the name, leaving its 36,000 residents vulnerable to rocket fire.
When the sirens blare, residents take shelter in their homes, but for those caught out in the open, there are no underground car parks to dash to.
The town has around a dozen emergency shelters, but they appear to be in an unappealing condition inside, with some having excrement smeared on the floor and reeking of urine.
Mayor Ghanayem joked, 'I'd rather get hit than take shelter in there.'
The problem with the lack of shelters was known about well before the most recent war with Iran, with a 2025 report by the State Comptroller showing that 33 percent of Israelis have no protected space or compliant shelter.
This figure rises to 50 percent for non-Jewish Israelis, and reaches 70 percent in Arab localities in the north.
