A residential building in Central Israel caught on fire early Saturday morning, after the Iranians targeted Israel at 2:29am. It has now been reported that Iran is utilizing cluster bombs when it is targeting Israel.
By Rachel Avraham
At 2:29am on Saturday morning, the bomb sirens were sounded in Netanya, Airport City, Beit Yehoshua, Bnei Brak, Hod HaSharon, Petach Tikva, Ramat Gan, Rosh HaAyin, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Yavne, Rishon LeTzion, Modiin, Kfar Yona, and other areas across Central Israel. The IDF said on Saturday that the Air Force shot down 40 Iranian attack drones targeting between Friday night and Saturday morning, Yedioth Achronot reported.
The Jerusalem Post reported that shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian missile caused a fire on the roof of a three-story residential building in central Israel on Saturday morning, according to Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service. According to the report, the fire has since been extinguished.
According to the report, Magen David Adom medics are currently at the site, and no injuries have been reported as of yet. The Jerusalem Post reported that the residents all quickly left the building, MDA’s spokeswoman noted.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Saturday morning’s missile barrage comes after a barrage was sent to Israel on Friday. According to the report, paramedics reported that over 30 people were injured in Haifa, and that there were additional reports of impact in Beersheba and central Israel.
Meanwhile, the Times of Israel reported that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Friday that Israelis must prepare for a “prolonged campaign” against Iran to “eliminate a threat of this magnitude,” indicating that a quick end to the campaign was unlikely. In a video statement, Zamir said Iran had been “building for years a clear plan to destroy the State of Israel” and that in recent months, “the plan reached the point of no return, where the capabilities reached operational capability.”
The Times of Israel reported that Iran has sent over 470 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, Iran’s missile attacks have killed 24 people and wounded thousands in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals, the Times of Israel reported. The Iranians so far have targeted Soroka Hospital, the Weizman Institute of Science, the Bursa Financial District in Ramat Gan, an oil refinery in Haifa, two historic mosques in Haifa dating back to the 1700’s, and countless residential areas.
And on Friday morning, Iran targeted a Beersheba Chabad kindergarten with cluster bombs. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command says the warhead on the missile in question split open at an altitude of approximately 23,000 feet (seven kilometers) and released an estimated 20 submunitions, Emanuel Fabian of The Times of Israel posted on X. In addition, Yedioth Achronot reported that Iran used banned cluster munitions in missiles fired at Israel in the Thursday morning attack, which caused massive damage – including to Soroka hospital and injured more than 200 people.
According to Human Rights Watch, “Cluster munitions present an immediate threat to civilians during conflict by randomly scattering submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Their remnants continue to pose a long-term danger after conflicts end, including submunitions that fail to explode upon impact and become de facto landmines.”
The World Health Organization added, “Globally, submunitions have taken more civilian lives and limbs after the cluster munition strikes than during attacks. The impact of such submunitions goes beyond civilian casualties, as extensive submunition contamination can have far-reaching socioeconomic and environmental consequences, hindering post-conflict reconstruction and development.”
Yedioth Achronot reported that the use of such munitions—effectively cluster bombs—would represent a dangerous escalation in the nature of weaponry deployed by Iran in its direct confrontation with Israel. The Times of Israel reported that 112 countries have signed a 2008 convention banning the production, storage, sale, and use of cluster munitions.
The text of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions says cluster bombs “kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development… impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction (and) delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons… for many years after use.”
Photo from The Hindu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Be5W5N6Zc
