Bunker-busting missile strike shakes Israelis' faith in their own safety

Telegraph

5 hours ago

Charred around the edges, the entry hole on the corner of the high-rise apartment block is only about 10ft across.
But, as it turned out, that was all the more devastating for the residents inside.
Rather than detonating its roughly 700kg warhead on the external walls of the residential block, the Iranian ballistic missile travelled right into the heart of the structure.
It exploded only when it struck the reinforced bunker nestling in the core of the building.
Four people were killed, two of them inside the shelter.
Liel Ferig, 22, was in the bunker a few floors below when the rocket hit.
'The explosion was absolutely massive,' she said. 'The walls literally rocked – pictures and anything on them flew across the room.
'Later, water started pouring in through the ceiling as the fire brigade tried to put out the fire. We were very scared.'
Their neighbours above were not so fortunate.
Israelis have always placed great faith in the sophisticated array of anti-missile systems to keep them safe, but they have always known the defensive shield is not foolproof.
The shelters were their ultimate peace of mind.
Israel's government places a huge emphasis on the importance of taking refuge in certified bunkers during air raids. 'Follow the instructions – they save lives', is the constant refrain.
In modern high-rises, where there might not be time to reach a subterranean bunker, each floor is now equipped with a safe room.
Following the tragedy in Petah Tikva, the Home Front Command was forced to state that the reinforced concrete shelters were not designed to withstand 'direct hits', after conceding that the Iranian missile 'breached' the structure, causing it to collapse.
The four who died here on Sunday were among eight at locations across Israel, bringing the total to 24.
About 300 have been hospitalised.
Iran is thought still to have possibly more than 1,000 ballistic missiles at its disposal.
On Monday, visibly shaken residents removed their belongings, picking a path between the broken glass and debris on the ground.
Asked how safe she felt after last night, a desperate look crossed Liel's face. 'We don't know how this could happen,' she said.
More than 300 families have now been evacuated from this and the neighbouring apartment blocks.
This neighbourhood is typical of modern Israel, where many people want to live and property is expensive. A large percentage of the population lives in high-rises like these.
As well as the two people who died in the breached shelter, a third was killed on a different floor who was not in a safe room.
The fourth, also outside a designated bomb shelter, was killed by the shockwave in the adjacent building.
In addition, an 86-year-old man died in the central city of Bnei Brak and there were three fatalities in the northern port city of Haifa.
Anat Rubinshtein was trying to gather herself together as she evacuated her apartment block with a couple of small bags and a box of treats for her beloved shitsu, Milkie.
She was on nodding terms with one of the four people who died in the adjacent block after it suffered a direct hit from an Iranian missile.
'He was a dog-lover too,' she said. 'I never asked his name, but I used to see him out with his dog. It's so sad.'
Although the identities of the four people known to have died in the strike in Petah Tikvah have not yet been known, it has been revealed that two were in a designated shelter.
Anat herself never misses a siren and was in her own shelter on the second floor of her building when the impact took place.
'I feel the shelters don't protect us any more,' she said. 'I was thinking last night, should I try to make it underground where maybe I would be safer, but in the end I stuck with protocol.'
'If I'd been in that building...'
As Israel entered the afternoon, bulldozers were busy demolishing a playground at the foot of the stricken apartment block after it was damaged by the blast.
Most of the cars in the car park have caved-in windscreens, smashed windows and strange dents from the shockwave.
Those not forced to evacuate the many similar high-rises in Petah Tikva now face an uncertain future, as Israel and Iran continue to trade airstrikes.