TEL AVIV (BN24) — A missile launched during a wave of Iranian retaliation struck an apartment complex in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion on Saturday, killing a man and a woman and injuring dozens more, according to Israel’s national ambulance service.
The strike came amid a night of escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, with both nations trading direct missile attacks in one of the most severe military escalations in recent Middle East history.
Rescue crews combed through the wreckage of residential buildings in Rishon Lezion, a city just south of Tel Aviv, as shocked neighbors watched emergency teams pull injured civilians from the rubble. Authorities said the missile appeared to have struck near homes in the early hours, causing widespread destruction in the densely populated area.
Israeli officials attributed the strike to one of the many missiles launched from Iran in response to Israeli airstrikes the day before that targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites, including the Natanz enrichment facility. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz condemned the attack and blamed Tehran directly. “Iran has crossed a red line by deliberately targeting civilians,” Katz said, vowing that Iran “will pay a heavy price.”
The strike in Rishon Lezion wasn’t the only civilian casualty reported Saturday. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a separate missile launched by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen killed five Palestinians, including three children, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The incident underscores the widening regional reach of the conflict.
Air raid sirens sounded throughout Israeli cities — including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem — as successive waves of Iranian ballistic missiles filled the skies. The Israeli military reported that fewer than 100 missiles were fired and most were intercepted or fell short. However, those that landed, like the one in Rishon Lezion, caused deadly consequences.
The escalation was sparked by Israel’s largest-ever air offensive against Iran on Friday. Israeli fighter jets targeted top commanders, nuclear scientists, and key infrastructure at Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran’s U.N. envoy reported that 78 people were killed and more than 320 injured in the Israeli strikes, most of them civilians.
Iran’s response was swift and forceful. Tehran claimed it launched hundreds of ballistic missiles in retaliation, including those that hit Israeli civilian zones. Fires were reported in Tehran following Israeli strikes on Friday, with Iranian media confirming that projectiles hit the Mehrabad airport, a military-civilian facility near key government institutions.
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that American forces had assisted Israel by intercepting some of the incoming Iranian missiles. Still, the damage on both sides raised alarms over the potential for a wider regional war.
As search operations continued in Israel on Saturday, local officials urged civilians to remain in shelters. “What we are witnessing is no longer proxy warfare,” said one Israeli military spokesman. “This is direct state-to-state conflict, and Israeli civilians are paying the price.”
