IDF reiterates safe rooms still best option against Iran’s missiles, despite 2 fatalities
Home Front Command finds those in reinforced rooms above and below direct impact site in Petah Tikva high-rise were unharmed, notes that reinforced spaces have saved many lives
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Home Front Command on Monday morning confirmed that two people were killed by a ballistic missile while sheltering in a protected space in their home, but stressed that inside in a bombproof room is still the safest place to be amid Iran’s attacks.
According to the Home Front Command, one of the ballistic missiles fired by Iran overnight, carrying a warhead of hundreds of kilograms, directly hit the wall of a safe room on the fourth floor of a high-rise apartment building in Petah Tikva.
The direct missile impact “breached” the bombproof room, which is designed to sustain the shockwave of ballistic missiles as well as shrapnel — though not a direct strike from a large explosive warhead.
Two people in the safe room were killed; those in the shelters on the floors above and below were unharmed, the Home Front Command said.
The two other fatalities in Petah Tikva were outside of protective spaces when the missile struck. One person was on the floor above where the missile hit, but not in their safe room, and the other was in a neighboring building hit by the shockwave, according to the Home Front Command.
The Home Front Command stated that bombproof rooms are the safest place to be during ballistic missile attacks, especially in new buildings, and even outperform public bomb shelters, although older underground shelters remain sufficient. The reinforced rooms have saved countless lives in the missile barrages from Iran thus far, it said.
In a missile impact in Bat Yam early Sunday, 180 civilians who were inside bomb shelters in the building that was hit were unharmed, the Home Front Command said.
Each floor in that apartment building had a shared safe room for the use of residents of that floor, and the building also had an underground shelter. According to the Home Front Command, all of the casualties — nine dead and nearly 200 wounded — were outside of the shelters.
The Home Front Command said that in the case of a high-rise tower in Tel Aviv that was hit Sunday, the missile struck the ninth floor, destroying several apartments, but the bombproof rooms resisted the impact, and hundreds of civilians were unharmed or only lightly hurt.
In Ramat Gan, a relatively old home without a bombproof room was directly hit by a missile on Saturday. However, those who been in a basement under the building were unharmed, the Home Front Command said.
The Home Front Command called on civilians to head for the safest place possible amid Iran’s missile attacks.
Iran’s missiles carry warheads of hundreds of kilograms of explosives and are considered to be a much greater threat than its drones, which are mostly intercepted before reaching Israel.
“Even when the type of threat changes, the method of defense remains the same,” said Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo on Monday. “Throughout the war, we have been dealing with many complex challenges, including missile launches and unmanned aerial vehicles directed at the State of Israel. We operate around the clock, striking every threat we identify and intercepting threats in real time.”
Milo added, “Alongside every military action, the personal responsibility of each and every one of you on the home front is of utmost importance, to follow the instructions.”
The Times of Israel Community.