Fearful of Iranian missiles, many sleep in Israel's underground train stations
RAMAT GAN, Israel: Aziza Melech felt her body relax for the first time in days when she settled onto her inflatable mattress in an underground station of Israel's light rail system on a recent evening. For the next few hours, at least, the 34-year-old event planner wouldn't need to run every time a siren warning of Iranian missiles sounded.
Since the war began a week ago with Israel's airstrikes on Iran, families with young kids, foreign workers, and young professionals have brought mattresses and sleeping bags, snacks and pets into the stations each evening.
Repeatedly running for shelter
On Wednesday night, in a station that straddles Tel Aviv and neighboring Ramat Gan, parents settled in their kids with stuffed animals, while young people fired up tablets loaded with movies. Many walked in carrying boxes of pizza. Workers set out snacks and coffee.
It was Melech's first night sleeping in the brightly lit train station, and she was joined by her friend Sonia Shraibmen.
'We're not sleeping because of the anxiety and because of the sirens that are happening during the nights,' said Shraibmen. 'It's very scary to run every time to the shelter.'
That morning, Shraibmen fell on the street while rushing to a nearby shelter, and decided to move somewhere where she wouldn't have to get up and run each time her phone blared.
Melech said the scene, with hundreds of people in their pajamas in the train station, reminded her of her grandfather's stories from World War II. 'Now, we'll be able to tell our grandkids about this,' she said.
The war between Israel and Iran began on June 13, when Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites as well as top generals and nuclear scientists.
More than 600 people, including over 200 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. People in Tehran have also packed into metro stations as strikes boomed overhead.
Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and more than 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Those strikes have killed have killed 24 people and injured hundreds in Israel. Missiles have struck 40 different sites, including apartment buildings, offices and a hospital, according to authorities.
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