A total of 13 Israelis have been killed in Iranian missile strikes over the past few days.
By Rachel Avraham
At least six people were killed, over 100 were injured, and three were missing after an Iranian ballistic missile slammed into a residential building in the central city of Bat Yam overnight Saturday, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, the barrage was Iran’s second overnight attack, triggering sirens and sending residents of Tel Aviv, much of central Israel, Ashdod and parts of Jerusalem into shelters just after 2:30 a.m., with impacts later being reported in Bat Yam, Rehovot and Ramat Gan.
The Times of Israel reported that six people — including an 8-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, and an 18-year-old boy — were killed in Bat Yam, and over 100 were wounded, rescue services said. According to the report, seven people were considered missing, and soldiers of the IDF Home Front Command’s Search and Rescue Brigade continued to operate at the site of the impact on Sunday morning in an effort to locate and extract them, the military said.
However, emergency services have since located four of the missing individuals alive and they are receiving treatment in hospitals, reducing the number of missing persons to three, I24 news added. I24 News reported that rescue teams from the Home Front Command continue complex operations at the Bat Yam site, where portions of the building remain dangerously unstable. Large sections of the structure are partially suspended, threatening the safety of both those trapped and the rescuers.
Speaking to CNN live on air, Dean Elsdunne, an international spokesperson for the Israel Police, said that extensive rescue efforts were still ongoing, with people feared trapped under the rubble. “This is the result of yet another barrage of rockets targeting our civilian populations,” Elsdunne said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog also visited the site, where searches are ongoing for three more building residents in Bat Yam, the Times of Israel reported. “Dozens of homes in this area were completely damaged by a single missile launched from Iran in a cruel and terrible missile attack that was launched across the entire country,” Herzog says at the scene, according to a statement from his office.
“Over the past two days, thirteen Israelis have been killed — of various ages — children, adults, elderly people and new immigrants,” says the president, adding that “the missiles do not distinguish between Jews, Muslims, Christians, or any part of the wonderful Israeli mosaic. This is a very significant moment in the history of Israel. We must show the emotional and mental resilience that we always have.”
Meanwhile, further south, I24 News reported that the Home Front Command rescue teams managed to pull a Holocaust survivor from the rubble of a damaged building in Rehovot. His son, present at the scene, embraced the rescue teams and thanked them for saving his father’s life, I24 News noted. Nearby, the Weizmann Institute also sustained damage, with fires breaking out in some laboratories following another missile strike, I24 News added.
Photo from Associated Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKya2LU2kpY
