December 27,2008: Israel is behind schedule in developing and deploying defensive systems to protect Israelis in northern (against Hezbollah rockets) and southern (against Hamas rockets and mortar shells) Israel. So as an immediate fix, 12,000 beepers have been given out in southern Israel. These beepers go off, for those in the target area, whenever rockets are detected headed for that area. Eventually, Israel wants to run this warning system through cell phones. But, again, that takes time, and the beepers are being given out now.