Israel is digging a vast bunker network outside Jerusalem that would allow top government officials to survive a nuclear or chemical attack and see out any war in safety, senior security sources said today.
They said construction began in 2002 amid growing fears over Iran's nuclear programme, seen as an existential threat to the Jewish state although Tehran denies hostile intent.
Israel is widely believed to have as many as 200 nuclear weapons, but officials do not discuss its capability.
The bunker complex is modeled on similar Cold War projects in the United States and Switzerland.
Israel's Channel Ten television first reported the shelter yesterday, showing cavernous tunnels under construction at an undisclosed location in hills near Jerusalem. It put the initial cost of the dig at 500 million shekels ($112 million) and said it would take several years to complete.
The Israeli military high command maintains a multi-storey underground command bunker in Tel Aviv known as the Pit.
Security sources said the Jerusalem shelter would provide an alternative should the densely populated coastal region be devastated by a non-conventional attack, rendering the Pit inaccessible.
Natural disaster is another concern. Security sources said the Jerusalem shelter is designed to withstand earthquakes of the kind that regularly visit the Syria-Africa rift valley.