Emergency services in Israel could finally unite under one emergency telephone number, as in the U.S., after the Knesset passed a bill on Monday, in a first reading. At present, the Israel Police are accessed by dialing 100; the Magen David Adom ambulance service is accessed by calling 101, and Israel Fire and Rescue Services can be reached by dialing 102. Under the proposal, all three of these emergency bodies would be reachable by calling one number, most likely 112. Most importantly, the 112 number would be staffed around the clock by representatives who will forward emergency calls to the proper authorities. The Knesset Economics Committee passed the bill, proposed by MKs Moshe Gafni and Rabbi Uri Maklev, in a first reading on Monday. The bill is now set to move on to two more readings, usually held together, in the Knesset plenum. Committee chairman MK Carmel Shama Hacohen, promised to take a tour of the ambulance service and the other emergency service providers before moving the bill on to its next readings. Like 911 in the U.S., there will be one clear and fast number [for emergency calls]. Hacohen said. Gafni, one of the bills initiators, noted that the need to memorize different emergency numbers sometimes led to the loss of valuable time in saving lives. Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman expressed support for the bill, as did deputy head of the National Security Council for Preparedness for Homefront Emergencies, Zeev Tzuk Ram, who said that the country needed one, central emergency number. We have additional authorities to help people, such as those that take care of harmful materials, which is part of the Environment Ministry, and special rescue services for travelers, and people simply dont remember all of the different numbers, he said. However, not everyone backed the move for a single number. MDAs Assistant General Manager Oren Blustein said, We believe that this method of a one-call center will cost lives. He said the MDA answered about 4.5 million calls per year and its average response time was seven seconds. MDA General Manager Eli Bean said a committee set up to look into the possibility of having one call center, run by the deputy police commissioner and the deputy director-general of the Health Ministry, actually recommended against it. The state does not have the economic ability to invest millions of shekels in establishing and a training a call center such as this, he said. Fire and Rescue Services official Oz Bashan said, We are lacking a lot of data needed to prove that this is a life-saving proposal. Today, there are three strong [emergency] entities in Israel with great capabilities; it is important to examine whether they can be unified.