Ramat Gan mayor says it was “great luck” that missile fired overnight, and not during school hours.
By World Israel News Staff
An elementary school in a Tel Aviv suburb was seriously damaged in the early hours of Thursday morning, as Houthi terrorists launched a ballistic missile at central Israel around 2:30 AM.
Although the missile was said to be intercepted, Ramat Efal Elementary School, located in Ramat Gan, sustained such severe damage that a building collapsed.
No casualties were reported. Nearby cars and homes were also damaged in the attack.
Footage from the scene circulating on social media showed a building with its wall blown off, exposing the classroom inside. Partially collapsed roofs, shattered glass, and scattered debris are also seen.
The damage may have come from a large piece of shrapnel from the missile, or it may have been that an unexploded warhead struck the school.
Last month, an interception only partially destroyed the warhead of a Hezbollah missile, with the explosive load impacting in Ramat Gan.
Ramat Efal Elementary School will not be operational until further notice and its students will need to learn elsewhere, Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama HaCohen said in a statement.
“This night ended with great luck for the residents of the city of Ramat Gan. As the mayor and as the father of a child at Ramat Efal Elementary School, I do not want to think about a situation in which this missile would have been fired during school hours,” Shama HaCohen said.
“Teams from the municipality are on the ground and conducting a damage assessment, as well as initial clean-up of the scene.”
The Ramat Gan municipality said in a statement that students in 1st through 4th grade, including special education students, will learn in nearby schools.
Students in 5th and 6th grades will attend classes online.