Iran retaliates with missile barrage, kills two in central Israel
After a day of heavy Israeli bombardment in Iran and Lebanon, the ammunition dropped during the overnight barrage hit several areas in central Israel, triggering air raid sirens across the region, officials said.
The latest deaths bring to 14 the toll from missile attacks on Israel since the Middle East war began late last month.
Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said the initial assessment of the fatal blow in the city of Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv, was that a residential building was hit by a cluster munition.
Cluster bombs, which Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using, explode in the air and scatter bomb particles over a wide area.
Elsdunne said the ammunition “collapsed the roof of an elderly couple who were in their room. Unfortunately, this couple did not go to the safe room when the alarm went off and as a result we encountered this unfortunate tragedy.”
“We heard a series of explosions… not just one, it was a missile disintegrating,” said local resident Omar, who gave only his first name. AFP footage from the scene showed police officers, rescuers and military personnel in a rubble-strewn street.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said two people were found dead at the scene.
“We saw smoke coming from a building that was heavily damaged and its windows were broken,” paramedics said in a statement.
A man suffered minor injuries from shrapnel in Bnei Brak, another city in the Tel Aviv region, the medical service said.
Iran’s ‘revenge’
Images shared by Magen David Adom show destruction in many places, including burning cars, destroyed vehicles and rubble.
Israeli police said bomb disposal experts “were operating at several impact sites containing munitions debris in the (Tel Aviv) area.”
In a statement published online, the national railway company said shrapnel damaged the platforms at Tel Aviv’s main station and announced that trains were “temporarily stopped throughout the country.”
It was stated that there was no loss of life.
The Army shared images of Home Front Command teams at a train station, showing the platform windows being broken and some damage to the train windows.
In a separate statement, Home Front Command said search and rescue teams were “operating in several areas in central Israel where reports of coups have been received.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement that they launched missiles into the center of Israel “to avenge the blood of martyr Dr. Ali Larijani and his friends.”
Israel announced on Tuesday that it had killed Iran’s security chief Larijani, and Tehran confirmed his death.
The Israeli military reported that at least two more waves of missiles were launched from Iran following the deadly barrage; This triggered alarms in central and southern Israel without any direct reports of impact.
