Israeli emergency personnel work at the site of an Iranian strike in Beit Shemesh on Sunday.Ammar Awad/Reuters
The plaster ceiling that fell on Tomer Ittah’s head from the force of an Iranian missile that landed near his home was nothing compared to the smoke and chaos when he walked outside.
The synagogue across the way was simply gone, and in its place was a sandy crater and a number of burned-out cars.
“There are no words to describe it,” said the 44-year-old man as he stood on the patio outside his home in Beit Shemesh, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He spoke as he surveyed the army and emergency workers who were still searching for survivors.
Nine bodies were found in the rubble of the synagogue and a number of destroyed buildings nearby, according to city treasurer Arie Berdugo, who was one of the first people on the scene.
The bomb shelter under the synagogue was so badly damaged that the 10 people huddling inside were injured or killed, Mr. Berdugo said.
“The force of the blast sent bodies flying,” he said, adding that it was impossible to tell where they had originated from. The missile hit in an older part of the city, where shelters are less effective or, in some cases, absent, he said.
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As for the synagogue, “not even a stone was left,” he said. “You would never even know that a house of prayer had been there.”
It was day two of the resumed war with Iran, launched by Israel and the United States on Saturday morning, following the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last June. The opening salvo took place on the morning of the Sabbath, when people had left for synagogue, after months of speculation that such an attack was imminent.
Sirens have screeched across Israel almost non-stop since then, with residents jumping in and out of safe rooms or nearby bomb shelters. Those without have sought the best shelter they could find.
Warnings are first issued through cellphones, urging everyone to stay close to shelters, followed by external sirens.
The country’s iron dome system has shot down most of the missiles, but it is not always effective. A missile hit in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, killing a 32-year-old woman and damaging an apartment building so heavily that only its concrete shell was left.
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Another 39 buildings were damaged, and some 200 people had to be evacuated from the area because they were unable to safely stay in their homes, the municipality said.
On Sunday afternoon, the Tel Aviv neighbourhood was packed with emergency workers, cleaning details, camera crews and area residents who had returned to rescue their belongings.
Alongside the sound of sweeping glass and cranes removing rubble, area residents could be seen walking out of buildings carrying their belongings in suitcases and bags.
Among them was Ann Aron, 34, and her boyfriend, Costa Black, 36. They stood outside his rented bottom-floor apartment of six years, on pavement strewn with glass and broken window frames.
Mr. Black recalled how they had spent the day running back and forth between his apartment and the shelter in the next-door building. Hoping that the missiles would stop late at night, they had showered, put on pyjamas and gone to bed when once more a siren rang out.
“I had actually fallen asleep,” Ms. Aron said.
Still wearing their pyjamas, they went next door and climbed down some 10 stairs to the concrete shelter, joining some 20 others.
But instead of a clear signal, there was an explosion.
“It felt like the building had fallen on top of us,” Mr. Black said.
Ms. Aron recalled, “The doors were shaking, people panicked, they started to cry.”
Two of several dozen wounded in the attack banged on the shelter door, asking for help. One of them was bleeding, and Mr. Black took off his shirt and gave it to him to help stop it, Ms. Aron recalled.
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Once outside, they saw a huge fire and medics evacuating the wounded on stretchers.
Mr. Black and some of the security personnel went through the building looking to see if anyone was trapped in their apartments, rescuing one elderly woman in a wheelchair.
It was only when they returned to their own apartment on Sunday, however, that they understood how close they had come to being among the wounded or the dead.
The blast had taken out the window opposite their bed, which in the aftermath of the attack was strewn with glass.
“It is very surrealistic and very frightening,” Ms. Aron said. “I see in daylight that if we had stayed here in this bed, maybe if we had not heard the alarm, we would have been very badly injured or maybe possibly killed.”
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