Home Front Command officer says Haifa recovery operation one of war’s ‘most complex’

A senior Home Front Command search and rescue officer describes the 18-hour effort to recover four bodies at the site of an Iranian ballistic missile impact in Haifa as one of the “most complex” rescue operations of the war.

According to the officer, the four victims were in an inner room in an apartment at the bottom of the building, close to the stairwell, and not in a bomb safe room.

“This was one of the most complex rescue operations we have dealt with in the recent campaign. Eighteen hours of using specialized capabilities, a lot of work,” he says.

The officer says the forces operated under the assumption that the victims could be alive, and therefore “worked slowly and methodically until we extracted all four.”

Additionally, the rescue operation was complicated by the fear that the Iranian ballistic missile’s warhead had not exploded upon impact.

“The assumption was that there was either a warhead or some unexploded ordnance inside the structure,” the officer says, adding that “necessary precautions” were taken.

To reach the victims as quickly as possible, the Home Front Command forces dug several tunnels within the rubble. “There is a very complex procedure here,” the officer adds.