At least nine people have been killed and more than 20 have been injured by an Iranian ballistic missile strike in Beit Shemesh in Israel on Sunday.
The horrific loss of life came after the city 30 kilometres west of Jerusalem suffered a direct hit. An intensive rescue operation is ongoing with members of various organisations including Magen David Adom (MDA), United Hatzallah and Zaka all participating.
The number of casualties is expected to rise due to the severe nature of the attack on the affected neighbourhood, which included a synagogue and a number of residential properties, according to an MDA spokesperson.
Almost 30 injured were evacuated to hospitals in the Jerusalem area, including two in a serious condition according to the MDA spokesperson.
Dror Eini, an MDA paramedic, said: “We saw destroyed homes, flames and smoke rising from residential buildings, wrecked cars, and significant chaos at the scene. I saw three casualties lying on the ground with no signs of life and had to pronounce them dead at the scene.
“Later, additional MDA paramedics pronounced six more victims dead. MDA teams are currently providing medical treatment and evacuating 28 casualties to hospitals with varying degrees of injury, including 2 in severe condition.”
According to a spokesman for United Hatzallah, emergency workers were working at “three separate scenes”. A synagogue was located at one of the scenes, according to the volunteer-led emergency service.
A public shelter is said to have collapsed at the scene due to the impact. Eyewitnesses say the force of the blast shattered windows in near-by buildings.
One resident said: "It hit a neighbourhood shelter, the entire public shelter was wiped out. Everything here is damaged.
“They said there were no warnings, but there were, everyone went into the shelter. An entire street was damaged here, eight houses are gone."
This appeared to be confirmed by Jerusalem’s district police chief Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled who, speaking at the scene of the devastation, said: “As far as I know… it was likely a direct impact on the shelter and most, if not all of those killed, were in there."
Millions of Israelis are regularly following the Home Front Command’s messages to follow instructions and stay in safe rooms and shelters while the alarms are sounding.
Peled assured the public that it is important to continue to follow the guidance, saying: “Those located in a protected area when the damage isn’t direct, which is the majority of cases, are indeed shielded from the missile or debris that flies through the air.”
Rescue workers have been going through the remains of the building in the search for survivors, with medical teams in place to treat the wounded and a helicopter waiting to take cases needing emergency care to hospital.
Israeli police spokesman Lt. Dean Elsdunne said: “It’s a very devastating scene. We’re talking about impact here in the heart of a residential community, an impact where it seems the houses were right on top of each other it seems also a synagogue was right here.
“Our first responders arrived and saw that the buildings collapsed in on themselves. They immediately started trying to remove the rubble, trying to evacuate those that were trapped underneath. At this time we’re talking about nine fatalities.
“Our bomb squads started removing the dangerous missile pieces and fragments that were here together with our patrol officers who were actively assisting our civilians not just in the impact site but the surrounding areas.
“We’re still going from building to building making sure that nobody needs assistance. We’re talking to community members who are concerned for those who can’t get in touch with their loved ones to try to connect them and obviously Home Front Command is here, different agencies. We’re all working together in order to clear this site as fast as possible.
“While the world knows the Iranian regime targets their own civiliansm we saw yesterday in Tel Aviv and here that they don’t differentiate and they target our civilians as well. But our war is not with the Iranian people - our war is with the Iranian regime that also oppresses and it endangers its own people.”
United Hatzalah earlier said its medical teams were treating more than 20 people at several sites in the Beit Shemesh area, including children, most of them with light injuries.
MDA said its paramedics were providing care to several wounded in the area, including a girl in serious condition.
A woman was killed and at least 21 people were injured late on Saturday when Iranian missiles struck a Tel Aviv residential block
She was the first fatality in Israel since the start of the joint Israeli-American military action against the Iranian regime that began on Saturday morning.
A second fatality was reported on Sunday when a woman in her 60s died after suffering from severe shortness of breath while rushing to a safe room.
Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and dozens of drones at Israel since fighting began.
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