The Israeli army has halted a major expansion project on its underground operations center in Tel Aviv over concerns that the structure is not sufficiently missile resistant.

A civilian firm connected with the project believes that the multimillion shekel facility, known as "The Pit," would collapse under a missile barrage, according to the Yediot Aharonot daily.

The Defense Ministry, which oversees the project, is seeking a second opinion on the conclusions, and ministry officials said the results were a case of severe negligence, the report said.

"Naturally we can't give any details with regards to this or any other operational preparation," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman told the newspaper, and told Xinhua they were looking into the report.

The highly-protected facility is the military's nerve center for operations, and would prove a valuable target for Israel's foes, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran.

Both groups have repeatedly said they were able to attack Israeli targets throughout the country in any future clash, including greater Tel Aviv, which contains some 70 percent of Israel's 7.8 million citizens and much of its manufacturing and commercial centers.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah last weekend threatened that his organization was capable of striking targets in Tel Aviv. Israel charges that the Iranian-backed group has a arsenal of 40,000-50,000 missiles, far more than its stocks at the end of the 2006 war.

In that conflict, the group fired some 4,000 Katyusha and smaller rockets at targets across the north, killing over 150 Israeli civilians and soldiers, and forcing some one million residents southward, or into bomb shelters for the duration of the month-long fighting.

Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh was due to announce the findings to the ministry's director general, according to the report.