JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli government earmarked more than 200 million dollars (140 million euros) on Sunday for the development of an advanced defence system aimed at countering rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon.
The security cabinet allocated 811 million shekels (207 million dollars, 144 million euros) towards the development and manufacture of the system over the coming five years, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the system -- dubbed "The Iron Dome" -- would be operational within 30 months.
"I hope that the first systems will be deployed near Sderot then," Barak told reporters in parliament, referring to the hard-hit town in southern Israel which comes under nearly daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
The defence ministry first ordered the system's development by the Israeli arms firm Rafael in February.
The Iron Dome is part of a multi-layered defence system aimed at protecting Israel from both short-range missiles and rockets fired by militants in Gaza or Lebanon, and longer-range missiles in the arsenals of regional foes Iran and Syria.
The Israeli army has had little success in ending the nearly daily rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which has killed 12 people in southern Israel since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
On Sunday, a rocket fired from northern Gaza hit a factory in the town of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 people, causing damage to the factory but no casualties, the army said.
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