Yuval Steinitz, chair of Israel’s state-owned defense firm Rafael, said Monday that the country is not facing a shortage of missile interceptors, amid reports that air defense stockpiles – particularly of long-range Arrow interceptors – have been depleted by the fighting with Iran.

Israel has consistently denied claims that it is running low on interceptors.

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is the primary manufacturer of the Iron Dome missile defense system and produces some components for the Arrow system, though the Arrow interceptors themselves are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries.

Steinetz is a former Knesset member for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, and has held several ministerial positions over the years, including leading the Strategic Affairs, Finance and Intelligence ministries.

Speaking Monday at a Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs conference, Steinitz claimed that the Iron Dome system has been 99 percent effective against rockets fired by Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Iron Dome intercepted most of them with success rates that [are] not 100% but close to 100%. It’s around 98%, even 99% — so it’s not perfect, but almost,” he said.

Steinitz also said that since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, which sparked a multifront war, the two terror groups have launched some 40,000 rockets at Israel.

Iran, he said, has fired about 1,500 ballistic missiles at Israel in two rounds of fighting since 2024 and “only several dozens” were not intercepted.

During the latest........

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