The IDF is considering not sounding air-raid sirens and instead relying solely on the Iron Dome missile defense system, Yediot Aharonot reported.
This debate is due to the fact that recently, many civilians have suffered injuries running to bomb shelters or suffered shock or trauma due to the sirens, while relatively few have been injured or killed from rockets.
According to senior IDF officials, the consideration to cancel the sirens is due to recent Magen David Adom (MDA) statistics that show a rise of tens of percentage points in the number of people injured during the sirens, the vast majority of whom were not injured by the rocket itself but by the fear caused by the siren or by falling as they ran for shelter.
Meanwhile, the IDF's Home Front Command is against canceling the sirens, since they prefer not to take chances and believe continuing the current policy is best.
"The price of one rocket landing, which will cause deaths, even if it is unlikely, is more than the total number of people who suffered shock and bodily injury," a Home Front Command official was quoted by Yediot Aharonot as saying.
The report noted that even if the sirens are canceled, sirens will still be sounded during periods considered to be "emergency times."