‘My TV exploded as Iranian missiles shattered my neighbourhood'

Telegraph

13 hours ago

Isaac Belaish was asleep on his sofa when the sound of an explosion violently woke him. Looking around, he found his whole apartment littered with shattered glass. 'Everything exploded – the windows... the TV exploded on me,' he said.
The 76-year-old had cuts all over his body and many of his most important personal possessions shattered. But he acknowledged it could have been worse.
The 500kg missile launched by Iran that fell less than 100m away from his house has caused the worst civilian loss of life in Israel since war broke out between Israel and Iran.
At least six people were killed in the strike on a cluster of residential buildings in the coastal town of Bat Yam, and 180 wounded.
The deaths came amid relentless waves of Iranian assaults on civilian areas following Israel's initial attacks on Tehran's nuclear facilities on Friday.
'I was so lucky,' Mr Belaish said at a school where victims of the blast were treated for injuries before getting ready to go to temporary accommodation in a local hotel.
'There are so many things I need from my home, my medication, things that are precious to me,' he added.
Aynom Kehasi, 39, was around 300m away when the bomb hit.
'After the first siren, we went back home but then when the blast hit, it broke all the windows and glass was flying all over. I got glass in my face, arm, eye, and went to hospital to remove the tiny shards from my eye, and had stitches in my shoulder.'
The decorator said he had not heard a second siren warning him to evacuate.
'It was extremely scary but this is just the beginning. We understand this is not over yet. I was very lucky, but now, what happens tonight?'
An Israeli official said the strike was carried out with a missile carrying 500kg of explosives. Such missiles are usually used in precision strikes but, on Sunday morning, the residential areas in Bat Yam, Rehovot and Tamra appeared to be indiscriminately on the receiving end.
According to rescue organisation United Hatzalah, around eight or nine streets were damaged by the blast, including 61 buildings.
On Sunday morning, residents had turned out to clean up the debris and rescue crews searched for the missing.
The Telegraph spoke to one man anxiously waiting for news of his brother who is believed to have been thrown by the blast from his second-floor apartment.
Police pushed crowds back who had come to survey the damage.
Ilana Shaked, who lives in nearby Holon, was still in her pyjamas when she came to find out news of her friend. She said: 'This is unreal to see, not just painful but hard to comprehend. I pray that they can reach the missing before the building collapses.'
Shmuel Malka, from volunteer rescue organisation United Hatzalah, arrived at the scene just minutes after the tragedy, around 2:50am.
'It's impossible to compare this to anything we've seen before,' he said. 'It was chaos because the radius was so big, it was dramatic and I've never seen this before in 10 years with the organisation. We've had many incidents with large numbers wounded but this was like nothing I've seen.'
Made up of orthodox Jews, the organisation relies on local volunteers to act before emergency services can.
'This war hasn't finished'
'There were people coming out en masse with injuries, in shock, disoriented, and we had to divide them because it was not only one building for us to manage. We went from building to building to check people injured from glass, and shrapnel,' said Mr Malka.
Yosef Kanety, also from United Hatzalah, was with the displaced as they awaited news of where they could go next.
'There are so many people who don't know what will happen next – where will they be tomorrow,' he said.
'They are thinking of tonight because this war hasn't even finished – so they are in trauma and expecting another round tonight. Many don't know where their families are as they still search, many have lost someone they know or others have been wounded, and many have medication at home which they need urgently.'
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has vowed to avenge the attacks, which have claimed 13 lives in total.
But so has Iran, where the total killed there is now 128, according to its health ministry.
On Sunday, Effie Defrin, Israel's military spokesman, warned of 'challenging days' ahead with Israel 'not stopping striking for a moment'.