‘Like an earthquake:’ Ramat Gan reels after missile slams into financial hub
One of Israel’s busiest neighborhoods turns into a disaster zone after early-morning strike Thursday; residents say they’ve lived through seven nights of terror with no end in sight
Ariela Karmel is a reporter and news editor at The Times of Israel covering Israeli society. She previously reported for Haaretz and Calcalist, and holds a master’s degree in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University.
The street outside the Bursa — the Diamond Exchange District in Ramat Gan just bordering Tel Aviv — was cloaked in gray dust and the acrid smell of smoke on Thursday morning.
Emergency crews picked their way through broken glass, charred debris and the hollowed-out shell of a residential building that hours earlier had taken a direct missile hit.
The entire front of the structure had been torn open, exposing what remained of the lobby and lower-floor apartments.
In the surrounding area, windows in neighboring buildings had shattered inward.
First responders in orange and green vests moved from door to door, checking for anyone who might still be trapped inside.
“We heard a loud boom. The building was moving as if there had been an earthquake,” said Hanni Adiv, 66, who lives nearby. “All the glass from the windows was blown out. There’s huge damage in our building and all of the surrounding buildings.”
A barrage of some 30 ballistic missiles fired by Iran at Israel on Thursday morning caused extensive damage in the center and south of the country, including a direct hit on Israel’s main southern hospital, Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Dozens of people have been reported wounded, with six in serious condition.
The missile impact in the heart of Ramat Gan at 7 a.m. was neither the first nor the most destructive to hit the beleaguered city since Iran began a campaign of indiscriminate ballistic missile fire at Israeli population centers last week after Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
The city, densely populated and packed with residential towers, small businesses and tech offices, has taken several direct hits since the missile fire began last Friday.
An employee with the Ramat Gan municipality said five or six buildings were damaged in Thursday’s strike alone, including the one that absorbed the missile blast head-on.
Yechiel Vaknin, 41, a lawyer by day and a first responder with United Hatzalah, a volunteer emergency medical service that dispatches trained responders to scenes of trauma, injury and disaster, arrived at the scene from nearby Bnei Brak.
He said the building was largely evacuated, but crews were still checking each apartment and scanning the rubble for victims.
“Luckily there are only 37 wounded mildly and two in moderate condition, mostly anxiety, shock and trauma,” Vaknin said. “Every apartment has a reinforced safe room and that’s what saved them. Everything else could be destroyed, but the safe room remains.”
“There are families, children, elderly, and pets here. It was very hard for them to leave their homes,” Vaknin said.
Iran launched an unprecedented missile attack on Israeli soil in April 2024, and followed with another in October. The latest assault, though, is much longer and more destructive.
While most of the hundreds of missiles have been intercepted by Israeli and allied air defenses, dozens have broken through, striking cities across central and southern Israel. Ramat Gan, adjacent to Tel Aviv, has emerged as one of the most heavily affected.
Etti Cohen Engel was one of three people killed in massive barrages of Iranian ballistic missiles fired on the city on Sunday.
Thursday’s impact occurred in the city’s iconic commercial district, lined with office towers and cafes, and one of the most trafficked areas in the country during rush hour.
Sapir, who works in the area, was arriving by train at Tel Aviv’s Hashalom station when the missile struck. “We actually got a message at the station that there was an earthquake,” she said. “It was insanely loud.”
Adiv said she and her neighbors have been living in fear for over a week. “We’ve experienced seven horrible nights here. We can’t sleep, we can’t function during the day,” she said. “We sit in fear and wait to find out who has been hurt this time.”
Her building’s shelter, like many in the city, is overcrowded and poorly ventilated. “Some people bring mattresses to the shelter, but you can’t really sleep there,” she said. “We don’t know what to do or where to go. We can’t live like this. It’s not normal.”
Adiv and her husband, who run a clothing shop in Tel Aviv, have not opened it since the war began.
“Nobody is coming, so there’s no point in opening,” she said. “It’s like time has stopped since the first attack.”
Still, even as emotions run high, Adiv said, “We have nothing against the Iranian people — just like we want to live in peace, they want to live in peace. And I wish them only good.”
“But we need to finish the Iranian government’s nuclear project so that we can live. All they want to do is destroy us,” she said.
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