A 105-year-old Holocaust survivor celebrated her birthday in a Haifa bomb shelter last week as Iranian missiles targeted the Jewish state.
A video released by the Embassy of Israel to the US, shows Miriam, who lives in Israel, dancing, determined to not let the war stop her from enjoying her birthday.
The embassy posted on X: “Even as sirens sounded and missiles fell, the celebration didn’t stop. A lifetime of resilience on full display.
Singer Regev Hod. serenaded Miriam, who was pictured dancing with her friends, many of whom were also centenarians. Many waved Israeli flags.
Comments under the post read: “Am Yisrael chai” and “God [loves] her.”
During Pesach many Israelis had to hold their seders in bomb shelters. Before the festival there were reports of weddings being held in bomb shelters, and at the start of the war, there were Purim celebrations. Soldiers serving in Lebanon read the Megillah Esther in their bunker.
But Israeli resilience, does little to stop the Iranian missiles coming in – and sometimes, even the Iron Dome can’t catch them.
In Haifa, early on Monday morning, days after Miriam celebrated her birthday in the shelter, four people were confirmed dead after a building was destroyed in a strike.
Rescue teams search for bodies under rubble in Haifa after Iranian missile strike (Image: Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
After rescue attempts, the bodies were recovered from the rubble including a man in his 40s, a woman in her 30s, and two others.
Advanced technological tools, including phone tracking, were used to find the location of those trapped under the rubble, but they were already dead by the time they were recovered.
The IDF had attempted to intercept the incoming missile, but it broke apart early in flight and scattered pieces across Haifa, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Magen David Adom Director-General Eli Bin said that at least three people were being treated for injuries caused by the shrapnel. At least four others were being treated for anxiety-related symptoms, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
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