Incomplete funding has forced the Israeli Defense Ministry to suspend efforts to upgrade 7 million gas masks intended to protect civilians during a chemical or biological weapons attack, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday (see GSN, July 10, 2007).
Israel has already gathered 4.5 million of the masks, but it would need an additional $11 million to complete the project, according to an Israeli television report.
When the funding shortfall was reported last November, Israeli defense officials warned that the project would be put off until the end of the decade without additional funds (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 19).