In its worst offensive against Israel, Iran only caused one death on Tuesday and it is not an Israeli citizen. This is a Palestinian who was buried this Wednesday in Jericho (occupied West Bank). The Israeli population appreciates once again the effectiveness of its anti-aircraft system. Some citizens come relieved to witness the remains of the attack, carried out with some 180 missiles, most of them intercepted. They are seen around Tel Aviv or near the Dead Sea.
While Sameh Khadr Hassan al Asali, a 38-year-old worker from Gaza, is buried in the West Bank, Ori, a 24-year-old Israeli, changes beach tourism for war tourism near his home in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, the largest city in the country. The attack ordered by the Tehran authorities forced the cancellation of this young man’s flight to Thailand. A long-planned vacation after finishing university a couple of months ago has disappeared. On Wednesday morning, for lack of anything better to do, Ori walks hand in hand with his girlfriend, Hily, 21, around the Herzliya area, where one of the rockets hit. They both observe the large crater already covered with earth, the damaged cars and, from time to time, they raise their cell phone to take a self-portrait.
For the second time in less than half a year, Iran has once again attacked its greatest enemy: Israel. The offensive this time is the largest ever launched by Iran. The number of projectiles fired this time is less than that of the early morning of April 13, the day when drones were also used, although Tehran has now used faster ballistic missiles that are more difficult to intercept. In fact, several of them, or remains of the local anti-aircraft defenses that tried to intercept them, managed to hit military air bases in the country without causing victims or damage to weapons and critical infrastructure, according to a statement cited by local media.
Ori was in his home in Ramat Hasharon, about three kilometers from where the projectile fell in Herzliya, when the sirens went off, putting practically the 10 million inhabitants of the country on guard. He took refuge in the safe room, a reinforced room that many homes in Israel have. It was the time when he almost had to go to the airport to start his trip to Thailand. “The noise was tremendous. “We were scared,” he says. But at the same time, as he observes the scene of the attack with only some material losses, he expresses his pride in the effectiveness of the Israeli defense system.
The avenue where he walks with his partner, in an industrial area with buildings and roads under construction, has become a place of pilgrimage and attracts other visitors, who almost always wander around taking photos or videos. “We are not afraid,” says Yosi, 40, in front of one of the vehicles that has come out worst. “We have to kill them all. “We have no other choice,” he says, without specifying who those are who must be put an end to.
Reporters from different international media also arrive, asking the neighbors or making reference in their intros before the camera to the target that the Iranians were supposedly seeking to hit: the Mossad headquarters, the Israeli secret services abroad, which are They attribute many of the attacks that their country carries out abroad.
Some references from Google Maps and web pages place a headquarters of that agency about 400 meters from the impact site. On the same avenue, even closer to that building, some workers carry out repairs on what appears to be another missile impact, but they do not allow the curious to stop nor do they recognize that another of the rockets fell at that point. Other places hit were a school near Ashkelon and a restaurant in Tel Aviv.
Urban or military areas
The Tehran regime considers it a humiliation for Israel that, for the first time, its missiles have managed to hit urban or military areas. For citizens like Ori, quite the opposite. Breaking out a broad smile, he emphasizes that nothing has happened, that there is no major damage to be regretted. But, although the largest Iranian offensive has failed to kill any Israelis, it has ended the life of a Palestinian. Already in the April bombing, the victims in Israel were almost zero. Only a few fragments hit the home of a Bedouin family in the Negev desert, causing serious injuries to a girl who remained hospitalized for several months.
This time, Sameh Khadr Hassan al Asali, who had been living as a refugee in the West Bank since the war began a year ago, lost his life instantly after being hit by a projectile. It happened outside the facilities where he has been sheltered since last October, when the fighting caught him like hundreds of Gazans outside the Strip. His death, in the town of Nueima, on the outskirts of Jericho, was also confirmed by official Palestinian sources cited by the Wafa agency. A video published on social networks shows the moment in which a large piece of missile falls directly on Al Asali while he is passing through a street. A few meters away, two men contemplate the scene while taking safety next to a wall.
On the Israeli side, the attack that killed that Gazan has almost remained an anecdote, although the authorities have promised to respond to Iran. Two dozen Chinese construction workers arrive with their bicycles to the place where the missile hit in Heziliya. They too are attracted by curiosity. They look at the vehicles affected by the blast wave and hit by shrapnel. The mantle of earth that covers some of them is striking. The image is tempting to take with you as a souvenir, as some of these workers do with their mobile phones before continuing to pedal.
