The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews will spend $2 million to rehabilitate 400 communal bomb shelters in Ashkelon.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the president of the interfaith group, announced the project Thursday during a tour of the city with Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai and Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mahatzri.
The renovations, according to Israeli officials, will focus on the most distressed neighborhoods in the city – Shimshon, Givat Zion and Ramat Eshkol – where approximately one-third of Ashkelon’s 120,00 residents live.
“Regretfully, the range of the Kassam rockets increases and the City of Ashkelon also finds itself under constant threat,” Eckstein said. “Today, after we saw the real need that exists in the city, we immediately decided to grant aid to the distressed neighborhoods in the city and to position them in high security preparedness for the next wave of attacks.”
The fellowship has renovated approximately 1,600 communal shelters at a cost of $10 million in 10 cities in the North.
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