Christian family killed in Iranian missile attack on Israel

At least four members of Arab Israeli Christian family from the Galilee were killed when an Iranian ballistic missile scored a direct hit on their home.

By World Israel News Staff

At least four members of an Arab Israeli family were killed in an Iranian missile attack late Saturday night.

During a volley of ballistic missiles launched from Iran, one missile managed to evade Israel’s missile defense network, striking a private, two-story home in the Arab Israeli town of Tamra, outside of Haifa in northern Israel.

The missile scored a direct hit just after 11 p.m., killing at least four people and injuring 10 more.

“This was a direct hit on a residential building. Sadly, four women from the same family were pronounced dead at the scene. We also treated several nearby residents suffering from acute anxiety,” said United Hatzalah EMTs Majdoub Mohammad and Ofer Levi, who responded to the incident in Tamra.

Initial reports have identified the victims as members of the Khatib (or al-Khatib) family, including a mother, Manar Khatib, 47; her daughters Hala, 20, and Shada, 13; and another female relative in her 40s, Manar Diab Khatib.

Arab American blogger Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib reported that a fifth member of the family was also fatally injured in the attack, though this claim has not been independently verified.

Alkhatib also reported that the family is part of Israel’s Christian Arab community.

Tamra is a predominantly Muslim Arab town with a very small Christian population, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

Hours later, two more direct hits were reported from Iranian ballistic missiles, one in the central Israeli city of Rehovot and the other in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv.

At least six people were killed in Bat Yam when a missile struck an apartment building. Morethan 100 people were injured in the attack.

One person was killed when a building in Rehovot suffered a direct hit, with at least 42 people injured.