Israel is preparing to introduce new binding standards for private shelters in residential buildings. The aim is to increase the resilience of homes against rocket fire and explosions and to improve protection for residents.
The decision comes against the backdrop of repeated attacks on Israeli cities and communities, in which shelters play a central role in the survival of the civilian population.
New safety requirements for home shelters
According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Home Front Command, the new regulations are intended to define updated requirements for building materials, wall thicknesses, ventilation systems, and shelter doors. These standards will in future be mandatory for newly constructed residential buildings and are designed to ensure that private shelters provide better protection against blast waves, shrapnel, and structural damage.
In addition, the new guidelines provide for shelters to be designed in a more functional manner to allow for longer stays. This includes improved air filtration systems, more robust power connections, and clear specifications regarding interior space. Authorities stated that the measures are based on insights gained from recent conflicts, which have shown which structural factors are decisive in emergencies.
The measures include several concrete changes. First, shelter doors are to be equipped in future with a visual red-green system that clearly indicates whether they are actually locked.
In addition, the interior walls of shelters are to be reinforced, after damage analyses showed that in the event of rocket or ballistic impacts, a building’s interior walls are subjected to stresses similar to those experienced by exterior walls.
A third change relates to lessons learned from the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023: standard shelter doors are not bulletproof, meaning that gunfire by terrorists caused injuries. Therefore, ballistic doors or mandatory retrofitting measures to prevent the penetration of projectiles are to be required in the future.
The revised standards are expected to come into force next year. The report also recalls that a so-called “mamad”—a reinforced room integrated into apartments—has already been a fixed requirement since the 1990s and is intended to provide protection to the population when sirens signal a threat.
Lessons from past attacks and nationwide implementation
According to the report, the planned standards are based on analyses of numerous rocket attacks in recent years, during which millions of Israelis were temporarily forced to seek shelter. Particularly in densely populated areas, it has become evident that well-constructed shelters can save lives, while outdated or inadequately built spaces pose a higher risk.
The new regulations are to be implemented gradually and incorporated into the national building codes. For existing buildings, no mandatory retrofitting is planned for the time being; however, authorities recommend that property owners voluntarily upgrade their shelters to meet the new standards. Representatives of the Home Front Command emphasized that shelters are a central component of Israel’s civil defense and that their modernization is a necessary step to better prepare the population for future threats.
