An Iranian missile barrage killed two people near Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, medics said Wednesday, with the national railway company announcing shrapnel impact disrupted train services.
Authorities reported that falling munitions had hit multiple sites in central Israel in the overnight barrage that triggered air raid sirens across the area, after another day of heavy Israeli bombardments in Iran and Lebanon.
The latest deaths took the toll from missile attacks on Israel since the start of the Middle East war late last month to 14 people.
Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said that, according to an initial assessment of the deadly impact, a residential building was hit by a cluster bomb in Ramat Gan, a city just outside Tel Aviv.
Cluster munitions, which Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using, explode in mid-air and scatter bomblets across a wide area.
The munition “collapsed the roof in on an elderly couple that were in their room. Unfortunately, this couple did not go to the safe room when the alarm sounded, and as a result, we have this unfortunate tragedy,” Elsdunne said.
Omer, a resident of the area who only gave his first name, said “we heard like a streak of booms... it was not just one, it was a splitting missile”.
AFP footage from the scene showed police officers, rescuers and military personnel on a street strewn with rubble.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said two people were found dead at the scene.
“We saw smoke rising from a building with extensive damage and shattered glass,” said a statement from the medics.
In Bnei Brak, another city in the Tel Aviv area, a man was lightly injured by shrapnel, the medical service said.
Images shared by Magen David Adom showed destruction in multiple locations, including cars on fire, destroyed vehicles and rubble.
Israel’s police said its bomb disposal experts were “operating at several impact sites involving munition debris within the (Tel Aviv) district”.
The national railway company said in a statement posted online that shrapnel caused damage to platforms at Tel Aviv’s main station, announcing that trains were “temporarily suspended across the country”.
In the morning, most train services resumed, the company said in an update.
The military shared footage of Home Front Command teams at a train station, showing shattered glass at a platform and some damage to train windows.
In a separate statement, the Home Front Command said its search and rescue teams were “operating at several sites in central Israel where reports of impacts have been received”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement they had launched missiles at central Israel “in revenge for the blood of martyr Dr Ali Larijani and his companions”.
Israel said on Tuesday it had killed Larijani, Iran’s security chief, and Tehran has since confirmed his death.
The Israeli military reported at least two more waves of missiles launched from Iran after the deadly barrage, triggering alerts across central and southern Israel.
Magen David Adom shared footage of a car on fire, while Israeli media reported at least another blaze at another site as a result of the missile fire.
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