A 30-year-old woman who was inside the reinforced safe room of her Rishon Lezion home was lightly wounded when the house around her was largely destroyed.
Iranian cluster munition scores direct hit on Rishon Lezion home, causing extensive damage
“Once the booms stopped, there was suddenly a very loud whistling sound. A second later, there was a crazy explosion and everything went black,” said the injured woman, Lir.
In addition to the strike in Rishon Lezion, fragments from intercepted missiles caused damage in Shoham and Lod. Images from the various scenes show widespread destruction.
Impact site in Lod
Later, additional sirens were heard in central and northern Israel following further launches from Iran. No injuries were reported in those incidents.
House destroyed, woman rescued from safe room
In Shoham, debris struck the yard of a home and caused heavy damage to the structure. In Rishon Lezion, at least seven impact sites were identified.
At one of the locations in the city, the 30-year-old woman who was in the safe room was lightly wounded after the house was almost completely destroyed. A Magen David Adom team evacuated her to Shamir Medical Center in Be’er Ya’akov and she was discharged after a short medical evaluation.
Emergency medical technician Sheldon Levin described the scene. “We arrived at a site with destruction, smoke and shattered glass. During our searches we found a woman who had been inside the safe room with her dog when the missile struck. She was suffering from anxiety and minor injuries,” he said.
“It is extremely important to stay in a protected space when a siren sounds. I do not want to imagine what would have happened if she had not been in the safe room. People must follow the Home Front Command instructions.”
'Dad, I can’t breathe'
Yaron, the owner of the apartment that was hit in Rishon Lezion, described the moments after the explosion. “My daughter called and said, ‘A missile hit the house.’ I drove from work like a madman,” he said. “The whole house was full of smoke. The reinforced doors had been blown onto the safe room. My daughter could not open the door. She was screaming, ‘Dad, I can’t breathe.’ I managed to pry the door open and rescue her.”
Lir said she had entered the safe room with her dog when the siren sounded. “There was a siren and I went into the protected room with my dog,” she said. “The huge explosion after the booms trapped me inside. I called my father. He ran over immediately, and at the same time, I called the fire department.”
“All the concrete collapsed at the entrance to the safe room, so it was impossible to get out. My father arrived and pushed the doors while I pushed from the other side, and I managed to get out. I tried to climb over the rubble and fell. It was very frightening.”
Herzog visits the damage site
President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal arrived at the scene in Rishon Lezion. “One of the submunitions released from the intercepted missile landed in the living room of this home and destroyed the entire interior,” Herzog said. “It is a shock and a surprise for the residents.”
“In a situation like this, it is clear that schools cannot open in these communities and the issue must be considered carefully. At the same time, everyone must follow Home Front Command instructions because they save lives.”
Herzog added that Israel’s enemies are deliberately targeting civilians. “They try in a cowardly way to harm civilians, but it will not help them,” he said. “The people of Israel are strong. We will overcome and defeat them.”
Damage in Shoham and Lod
Shoham council head Dafna Raviv-Rabinowitz said a house in the town sustained major damage when debris landed in its yard. “Unfortunately, we experienced another strike,” she told ynet. “We have the situation under control and there are no injuries. One woman was in the house and is now packing to evacuate to a hotel. She was alone because her husband was at work.”
“The house suffered severe damage. The explosive fell in the yard and the blast left the first floor unfit for living.”
Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman also arrived at the scene in Shoham. “People must follow Home Front Command instructions. Anyone who sees the destruction inside understands that what saved the woman was entering the safe room,” he said. “The Iranians have crossed every red line. All their infrastructure on Kharg Island must be destroyed,” he added, referring to Iran’s main oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, considered the "soft underbelly" of the country's economy.
No early warnings
Many civilians said overnight that they did not receive early warning phone alerts before sirens sounded after launches from Iran.
ynet received numerous complaints, and the IDF said it was aware of the issue.
According to the military, the problem may be linked to reception issues among cellular providers, though it is still investigating whether there was a broader malfunction.
The complaints came shortly after the Home Front Command announced it would scale back the geographic areas receiving early alerts for missile launches from Iran.
Officials said the move followed an extensive professional review and technological adjustments aimed at narrowing alert zones and reducing cases in which residents receive an early warning without a siren.