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‘A boom, and everything went black’ – Hezbollah missile victim

“It was a miracle I survived,” Eran Lanksy said. “The store was completely destroyed.”

By World Israel News Staff

A man who was seriously wounded by a Hezbollah ballistic missile strike in central Israel on Monday evening is speaking out about the explosion that nearly killed him.

Eran Lanksy, the proprietor of a men’s clothing store in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb, told Hebrew-language outlet Walla his family had been in the shop helping him just minutes before the impact.

“My family left and five minutes later a siren sounded,” Lansky recounted.

“There were two smaller explosions, than a third one. It looked as if everything in the shop was flying around in front of me, and I was thrown about ten meters. There was a crazy boom and everything went black.”

Doctors said that Lansky suffered a brain hemorrhage, along with some internal bleeding in his shoulder area.

“It was a miracle I survived,” Lanksy said. “The store was completely destroyed.”

Five other people were wounded in the blast and are hospitalized in moderate condition.

Notably, the IDF spokesman, the police, and local officials have released contradictory statements about the source of the explosion.

The IDF and Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama-HaCohen claimed that the blast and subsequent fires were caused by shrapnel from the Iron Dome’s in-air interception of the missile.

“A preliminary investigation found that the interceptor missile struck hit a surface-to-surface missile launched from Lebanon at a high altitude, and broke it into several pieces. As a result of the interception, part of the missile hit the ground and caused damage and casualties. The incident is being investigated,” the IDF said.

However, the Central District Commander of the Israeli police said he believed that the missile had directly impacted in central Israel.

Footage from the scene circulating on social media showed widespread damage to nearby office buildings and apartments, with buses and cars set ablaze.