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CENTRAL ISRAEL – At least six people were seriously wounded Thursday morning when an Iranian ballistic missile struck Be’ersheba’s Soroka Medical Center, part of a broader barrage that also scored direct hits on Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Holon.
“We are hitting nuclear targets and missile targets precisely, and they are hitting the pediatric ward of the hospital. That says it all,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while surveying the damage at the hospital.
The attacks on Israel have left many homeless and lucky to be alive. Ariel Levin-Waldman is one such person. He was at his in-laws’ home in Rishon LeZion, where he and his family had been staying for several months during renovations to their own house—when an Iranian missile struck the residential neighborhood. The attack killed two people and injured dozens; a third victim died during an earlier wave of Iranian strikes.
Zaka volunteer Jamal Waraki pulling Israelis out of the rubble in the aftermath of Iran’s missile attacks. (ZAKA )
Mildwisky emphasized that Iran must not be allowed to possess atomic bombs or the capability to develop them—particularly given the regime’s repeated declarations of intent to destroy the Jewish state.
As long as the threat remains, he said, Israel will be forced to continue its military operations.
Jamal Waraki, a Muslim volunteer with the ZAKA emergency service, had just completed a rescue mission—pulling an 80-year-old man from the rubble—when he returned home at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday to find his own house destroyed.
“That night, there was a missile impact in Rehovot. We tended to the building that had sustained a direct hit. Once we finished, I went home and discovered that my place too had been struck,” Jamal told Fox News Digital.
Thankfully, no one was home at the time. Jamal’s family had been staying with his mother-in-law in Eilat, where they still are. While awaiting the finalization of new housing arrangements, Jamal has been sleeping in his car.
The building in Lihi Griner’s complex which was hit by an Iranian missile attack. (Lihi Griner )
Lihi Griner is well known in Israel due to her appearance in the local spinoff of the Big Brother reality TV show. She was in her safe room with her husband and three children when the Iranian missile struck Petah Tikva, in the same neighborhood as lawmaker Mildwisky. Griner resides in a complex with four residential buildings, one of which was directly hit.
“There was a huge boom,” she told Fox News Digital. “The kids were shocked, they started to cry, and we kept telling ourselves that there was an impact, but we’re alive. It was surreal. I couldn’t believe it happened to me.”
After receiving the all-clear to leave the safe room, she opened the door and found everything was completely destroyed. “Our windows were blown out of the walls, the doors were broken in half, the walls were damaged with big cracks, and all the balconies in the front of the building were demolished,” said Griner.
Initially, residents were sent to a school across the street, where authorities offered hotel options at no cost. Soldiers later escorted Griner’s family back to their apartment so they could retrieve their belongings. While the residence is now safe, they can’t sleep there due to the lack of windows.
“I live day by day. I’m just happy we’re alive. It gives us time to figure out what comes next,” Griner said.
For Levin-Waldman, what came next was an unexpected phone call from the Rishon Lezion municipality on Wednesday. To his relief, another member of the family had been found alive and unharmed four days after the attack: their dog, Zvika.
