Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Tuesday that security forces would hold a large-scale defense exercise like the one held this week every year.  The drill would be held around April, he said, “because after that the area starts to ‘heat up,’ as you have noticed.”

Earlier in the day former IDF spokesman Nachman Shai criticized the drill, saying it was “exaggerated and sowed panic among the public.”  Brigadier-General Yair Golan said in response that the important part of the drill was the part that took place before sirens sounded on Tuesday morning, and not the part involving the general public.