Warning time: Haifa moved to ninety seconds, and the alert does not end after ten minutes
Ninety seconds. Less than two minutes, but in a Haifa school, when the siren sounds and children must run down the corridor, the difference between sixty and ninety seconds can mean everything. Yet how many central Israel residents know their own time? Many are certain they can leave shelter after ten minutes. They are wrong.
On 2 June 2026, Haaretz reported that Home Front Command had announced an extension from sixty to ninety seconds in 161 northern communities, including Haifa, the Krayot and the Carmel area, effective at four that afternoon. Home Front Command chief Major General Shai Klapper said the longer protection time could save lives.
On 30 September 2026, Haifa District commander Colonel Yakir Bukobza returned to the subject in a Jerusalem Post interview. Haifa and its surroundings had moved from sixty to ninety seconds, he said, giving schoolchildren a better chance of reaching protection.
Two sounds, two different things
To understand what to do, first recognize two alert types. A Ministry of Aliyah and Integration page, updated on 18 June 2025, clearly separates them. The first is an advance alert, about ten minutes beforehand, with the instruction "prepare yourselves." The second is the final alert: sirens and "enter the protected space now." Stay inside until an official message says you may leave.
Where should you go? In priority order: a mamad, a reinforced room within the apartment; a mamak, a communal protected space; the building shelter; or a public shelter.
The ten minutes that no longer apply
Here is the most common mistake. For years, people waited ten minutes and left. But on 2 March 2026, Hof HaSharon Regional Council published an unequivocal clarification: enter immediately and leave only after Home Front Command's all‑clear, not after ten minutes as previously practiced. Its notice gave a shelter‑entry time of a minute and a half for the communities it addressed.
Another important detail from that clarification: the all‑clear also arrives when no siren sounded, signaling the event's end. A phone alert without a siren is not permission to go outside. Follow the message, not the kitchen clock.
Haifa is not Tel Aviv
If Haifa has ninety seconds, how long does Tel Aviv have? The answer surprises many: you cannot copy it. June's extension concerns the northern communities listed in the announcement, not all Gush Dan. Front‑line communities may have a much shorter window. Each community has its own time.
Where do you check? Only official sources. The Home Front Command website is the source; a private site's table of seconds is not. The Home Front Command app carries alerts, alongside its Telegram channel and the National Emergency Portal. Its inquiry number is 104, and the published WhatsApp number is 0529104104. In emergencies: police 100, Magen David Adom ambulance service 101, fire service 102.
What else did Bukobza describe? Improved detection of munitions falling after attacks, to reduce secondary harm. That is the home front's role after impact. Interception itself, he added, belongs to air defense.
Five minutes tonight, before the next siren
Some things cannot be done in ninety seconds but are easy in five minutes on an ordinary evening. Open the Home Front Command app and check the configured community. Know where your home's protected space is. Without a mamad, locate the building shelter now, not after the siren starts.
A district exercise, such as the one Bukobza described after a multi‑arena drill in Haifa, tests teams and headquarters. It does not change your exit rule. Enter within your community's time and leave only on a message. Haifa's ninety seconds belong to Haifa residents. You have your own seconds, and knowing exactly how many is worthwhile.
