In a quiet southern suburb of Tel Aviv, Iranian reprisals landed like a bolt of lightning.
The direct hit from an Iranian missile sheered the front off of a ten-story residential building, killing six people and burying several more under mounds of rubble. Rescue workers are reportedly still trying to dig them out.
The impact was extensive, damaging buildings for an entire city block and covering much of the neighborhood in bits of debris.
Those killed here, along with four members of an Arab-Israeli family who were killed in northern Israel, has brought the death toll to 13, more than triple the number of Israeli fatalities recorded on Friday, the first night of Iranian reprisals.
That made last night’s attack on Bat Yam the deadliest Iranian airstrike against Israel in its history.
But when measured alongside the vast field of destruction, the casualty count seemed relatively low — a fact residents attributed to Israel’s early warning system and the bomb shelters tucked into almost every building.
An official with the Israeli Defense Forces said that everyone who managed to take refuge inside a bomb shelter survived the attack.
“The building was shaking like hell. After a few minutes we went out and we saw the destruction. And then we realized that we don’t have houses anymore,” said Natalie, a 43 year old Bat Yam resident who said she works in administration. “The building was shaking like hell.”
Natalie and her neighbors were standing with their luggage in the entryway to their apartment building about a block away from the impact site.
She and her fellow residents looked disoriented as they described what they thought might be their next moves: calling friends and relatives to try to find places to stay for the next few nights.
“The thing about Israeli people is that we are always prepared,” she said. “I’m a good civilian who listened to the instructions of the government to stay in a safe place. And that’s what saves most lives.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among a few Israeli politicians who paid a visit to Bat Yam today.
Speaking to reporters in front of the wreckage, Netanyahu declared that “Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children that they did intentionally.”