The IDF's Home Front Command has come up with new products to help protect civilians from terror rocket attacks. These include a "protective bed" and a "protective cabinet."
The Command's Fortification Department recently completed the testing of the new products, which are expected to be useful against conventional missiles.
The protective bed looks like a regular bed but can be opened and turned into "a kind of protective canopy" in times of emergency, according to the IDF Website. "This solution offers alternative, inexpensive and accessible protection for people who are unable to build a protected space in their apartments," the website explained.
The same kind of thinking led to the development of a protective cabinet. The cabinet serves as a regular closet for storage of various items within the apartment, but can be emptied of these objects and used for protection when missiles strike.
The items were tested six months ago in an experiment that simulated a missile explosion 30 meters (almost 100 feet) away from the products. The explosion caused external damage but did not harm objects that were inside the products. Shell fragments were effectively blocked.
The Home Front Command is now testing a special paint that prevents walls from falling apart when a missile strikes nearby. It is also testing innovative sheeting that can be stretched inside an apartment to protect walls from the concussion caused by nearby missile strikes.
Protective measures have been developed by the IDF for the areas that are under bombardment from Gaza for over a decade. These include fortification of buildings, playgrounds, bus stops and more. Israel launched an effective counter-terror ground assault into Gaza in late 2008 that was followed by a period of relative quiet, but terrorists have since gone back to pounding the South on a regular basis..