The Health Ministry and the Environmental Protection Ministry issued emergency guidelines Sunday evening after abnormal benzene concentrations were measured near the Haifa Bay refinery complex. In coordination with the Kiryat Ata municipality, authorities decided to suspend classes at two schools adjacent to the complex, the Social High School and Arazim School, and relocate students to alternate sites for the coming day.
The ministries are advising residents within one kilometre of the refineries, particularly children and pregnant women, to avoid unnecessary outdoor activity. Workers in the industrial zone are advised to close windows and operate air conditioning.
Monitoring data show that over the weekend of 9–10 October, extremely high benzene concentrations were recorded at a monitoring station near the Dashanim industrial area in Kiryat Ata. Today, elevated readings were also registered at the Haifa monitoring station near the old licensing bureau. Concentrations dropped this morning but began rising again by midday.
Following the findings, the Environmental Protection Ministry ordered a halt to maintenance work at the Bazan refinery complex, which has been underway in recent days alongside repairs to war damage. The ministry demanded that the facility investigate the incident and submit a detailed plan for work procedures and measures to prevent further exceedances as a condition for resuming operations.
The ministries are expected to conduct another situation assessment tomorrow based on monitoring results and will update the public with further guidance as needed.
