JERUSALEM
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system cannot completely protect it against rocket attacks in the future, the country's air force chief said Sunday.
"We will thwart much rocket fire and will be effective in many areas, but we won't know how to fully protect the state of Israel," Amir Eshel said. "We will be harmed, but without the Iron Dome we will be harmed even more," he was quoted by the Israeli daily Haaretz as adding.
Designed and manufactured in Israel, the short-range rocket intercept system began operating in 2011.
It has been widely used in thwarting rockets fired by Palestinian factions on Israel during the latest Operation Protective Edge on the Gaza Strip in July and August of 2014.
"The problem is that the expectation is that the Iron Dome will provide a complete solution – that we won't get hit," Eshel reportedly said.
"And that is why I am saying here and now, publicly, we will probably not see the results we saw in Operation Protective Edge [again]," he added.
Israel's air force said earlier that the Iron Dome intercepted nearly 90 percent of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip during last summer's operation, in which over 2,160 Palestinians – mostly civilians – and 73 Israelis – mostly soldiers - were killed.
