“If we hadn’t entered the bomb shelter, it could have ended in disaster,” says woman whose family home was damaged by a ballistic missile fragment.
By World Israel News Staff
Shrapnel from a Houthi-launched ballistic missile shot down by the Israeli Air Force early Wednesday morning damaged a house in central Israel, with the overnight attack sending millions of people to bomb shelters.
Sirens wailed across multiple regions of Israel, including the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh, and Ben-Gurion Airport at around 4:20 a.m. Following the sirens, the airport suspended activity for approximately 30 minutes before returning to normal operations.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated nine people who were injured while running to bomb shelters.
Initially, the military claimed that the missile had been intercepted outside of Israeli airspace, but pieces of debris from the interception and the missile itself were reportedly found in at least three different areas.
Large pieces of shrapnel landed in the front yard of the Steinberg-Golan family, who live in Be’er Yaakov, a suburb of Israel’s fourth largest city, Rishon LeZion.
Speaking to Hebrew-language outlet Walla, Shira Steinberg-Golan said she was shocked to discover “a missile fragment as tall as me” in her backyard.
An external air conditioning unit had been blown off the side of the house, with half of the tiling on the patio smashed from the impact.
“If we hadn’t entered the bomb shelter, it could have ended in disaster,” she said.
Meital Merhav, an American cousin visiting the family, told Walla that she had arrived in Israel from New York only five days ago. In that short amount of time, she already heard three air raid sirens.
“It’s a shock. The whole thing with sirens is new to me. Luckily, I slept in the bomb shelter,” Merhav said.
“The family is okay. We couldn’t believe it struck here in the yard. No one could imagine that anything like this could happen,” she added.
“We went outside, opened the door, and saw that the missile fragment was here. Luckily, it only ended with property damage. It’s a traumatic experience, but [we’re] glad everyone is okay.”