Weeks after a deadly Iranian missile strike, a Bat Yam apartment building was demolished as grief-stricken survivors watched.

By World Israel News Staff

A building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam was demolished on Thursday morning, weeks after it was struck by an Iranian missile that killed nine people.

Residents of the building, who were evacuated after the impact, and members of the tight-knit neighborhood watched the structure being brought down.

“It’s gut-wrenching. There’s a deep sense of sadness and loss — as if the building itself is dying. We’re trying to come to terms with it, but there’s no hope. The people who died were our neighbors, like family,” Yair Moshe, a longtime resident of the building, told Hebrew-language outlet Walla.

Moshe noted that the destruction in Bat Yam was “among the worst in this war,” saying that he had personally known the victims of the Iranian missile strike.

“Our neighbors were an elderly couple — killed along with their daughter and grandchildren,” Moshe said. Another victim, who lived on the third floor, was “always full of joy.”

“Bat Yam is a place where people sit together downstairs, smiling and talking,” he continued. “Now it’s all gone. Our building symbolized something. When they died, it died too.”

Moshe’s wife, Naomi Hadar, said the couple had been home with their children at the time of the deadly missile strike.

“There’s real trauma here, especially among the children,” Hadar told Walla, adding that the authorities had not provided sufficient emotional and psychological support to those impacted by the attack.

“We feel like we’re begging the authorities [for help.] Our four-year-old urgently needs therapy but still hasn’t received any psychological support. That’s just as important as money or material aid. We all need help to process this disaster and begin to move forward.”

The Israeli victims of the strike were named as Meir “Miro” Vaknin, 56, Michael “Miki” Nahum, 61; Efrat Saranga, 44; and Belina “Bella” Ashkenazi, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor originally from Bulgaria.

A family of Ukrainian nationals was also killed. They had relocated to Israel so that a young family member could receive treatment for cancer.

They were identified as Anastasia “Nastya” Buryk, 7, who was battling leukemia; her mother, Mariia “Masha” Pieshkurova, 30; her grandmother, Olena Pieshkurova, 54; and cousins Illia Pieshkurov, 14, and
Kostiantyn Tutevich, 10.

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The message to Israel from Taiwan, said its Economic and Cultural Office head, is: You are not alone.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Private organizations, Jewish communities and even countries have begun sending help to Israel to aid in rebuilding neighborhoods and facilities hit by missiles over the 12 days of the Israel-Iran war, which has left some 30,000 homes damaged or destroyed, according to the Israeli building industry.

The rabbi of the city of Foshan in the Guangdong province of China offered his community’s help to the chairman of the Israel Renovation Contractors Association, according to Ynet.

His city, wrote Rabbi Gadi Luzon to Eran Siv, “is one of the leading and largest centers for the production and supply of building materials and construction services in the world,” including aluminum, wood and glass products, plumbing and flooring.

The Jewish community would like to not only provide comprehensive aid in the materials needed for reconstruction, Luzon added, but could also help bring over professionals in the field to do the work, as “we are in contact with the largest and most respected human resource companies in China, who have already expressed their readiness to recruit and select … skilled workers in all different fields of construction.”

Asia was the source Monday of a direct contribution of aid when the head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv, which serves as Taiwan’s unofficial “embassy” in Israel, visited Bat Yam, where a direct hit from Iran demolished many apartment houses and killed seven people.

Accompanied by the mayor and three Knesset MKs, Abby (Ya-Ping) Lee toured the devastated area and said, “Taiwan is once again among the first to work with civil organizations to save lives. We are sending a very clear message of solidarity to our Israeli friends: You are not alone.”

Taipei donated $160,000 to the ZAKA emergency response organization for mobile lighting equipment, as in so many cases, rescue squads work through the night to find people buried under rubble in the first crucial hours after an attack.

In March 2024, the Asian nation, which compares itself to Israel as a fellow democracy under threat (from China), gave half a million dollars to 12 Israeli cities to create teams of volunteer responders for crises. It had also donated $70,000 to Israeli families and soldiers in need through the Pitchon Lev nonprofit just weeks after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023.

On Monday as well, the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) announced that it had allocated $10 million in Israel Emergency Funds to 19 partner organizations to meet new and emerging needs resulting from Iran’s missile attacks against the Jewish state.

“We want every Israeli to know that the North American Jewish community has their backs and will continue to step up in meaningful ways, whether that means supporting hospitals, upgrading conditions in public bomb shelters, or helping evacuees and victims of terror,” said Jeff Schoenfeld, the incoming vice chair of JFNA’s board of trustees.

A fifth of the funds will go to the Jewish Agency to provide immediate assistance for bereaved families, the severely injured, and those whose residences have been destroyed by missile attacks.

Another $2 million will go to purchase essential equipment for hospitals.

Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, which took a direct hit to its surgical floor last week, will receive part of this money. The hospital also just became the beneficiary of a $100,000 donation from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California.

“Our institution was founded by the Jewish community in Los Angeles to serve all those in need. It is an honor to support Soroka in this moment of great need,” wrote Dr. Peter Slavin, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai, to his counterpart in the largest hospital in Israel’s south.

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Family sought refuge in Israel for child’s leukemia treatment; five relatives among victims of Iranian missile attack.

By David Brummer, World Israel News

Five members of a Ukrainian family who fled to Israel in search of life-saving cancer treatment for a child were killed in the Iranian missile strike on Bat Yam, Israeli authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

Seven-year-old Nastya Burik, who had been undergoing treatment for leukemia, was among those killed when a missile directly hit a residential building in the coastal city late Saturday night.

Her mother, Maria Peshkurova, 30; grandmother Lena Peshkurova, 60; and cousins Konstantin Totvich, 9, and Ilya Peshkurov, 13, also died in the blast.

The family, originally from Odessa, Ukraine, was not Jewish but immigrated to Israel in December 2022 to seek advanced medical care for Nastya, who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

According to reports, the young girl had initially responded to treatment, but her condition worsened in recent months, culminating in a failed bone marrow transplant.

Her mother and grandmother had been caring for her during her illness, with the grandmother bringing along her two other grandchildren — Nastya’s young cousins — who were enrolled in local schools in Bat Yam.

Nastya’s father, Artem Burik, serves in the Ukrainian military’s Storming Brigade and remains on the front lines fighting Russian forces.

Other family members, including Lena’s husband, were unable to travel to Israel due to the ongoing war.

The tragic deaths highlight the far-reaching toll of the missile attack, which targeted civilian areas across Israel and marked a rare direct strike on the densely populated Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

In addition to the Ukrainian family, four other Israeli civilians were killed in the Bat Yam strike: Michael (Miki) Nahum, 61; Meir (Miro) Vaknin, 53; Bella Ashkenazi, 94; and Efrat Saranga, 44.

The deaths have shaken both Israeli and Ukrainian communities, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the attack and the tragic fate of a family who had sought refuge and healing in a new land.

Funeral arrangements for the victims have not yet been announced.

Israeli officials say psychological and logistical support is being extended to surviving relatives and community members impacted by the blast.

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Seven people were killed in the Iranian missile strike on an apartment building in a Tel Aviv suburb; five of the victims were Ukrainian refugees – among them three children.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

An additional victim of the Iranian missile strike on an apartment building in Bat Yam was identified as Efrat Saranga.

Saranga’s body was pulled from the rubble nearly a day after a missile destroyed the apartment building where she lived in in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The 44-year-old was married for eight years to her husband, Ofir, and had no children, according to Hebrew-language media reports.

She is survived by her husband and two younger brothers.

The Bat Yam municipality said it shares in the Saranga family’s grief and will provide support to her loved ones.

Seven people were killed in the strike on the residential complex in the Tel Aviv suburb, with five of the dead identified as Ukrainian refugees.

The Israeli government has not yet publicly released the names of the victims with Ukrainian citizenship, as they work to inform their next-of-kin in Ukraine and arrange transportation for their burial in their home country.

Among the Ukrainian nationals killed were a teenager and two children, aged eight and ten.

Rescue teams are still searching the rubble for one person, who remains missing as of Monday morning.

“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of civilians — women, children — that it carried out deliberately,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the scene in Bat Yam on Sunday.

“We will achieve our objectives, and we will strike them with overwhelming force,” the premier added.

Netanyahu said that the destruction in Bat Yam proved that Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear program are necessary for protecting the Jewish State.

“We are here because we are in an existential battle — one that is now clear to every citizen of Israel. Think about what would happen if Iran had a nuclear weapon to drop on Israel’s cities,” the prime minister said.

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