New Delhi: The aftermath of the killing of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, began with Iran launching a barrage of missiles on Israel, resulting in at least nine people losing their lives in the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh on Sunday, March 1.
Police said the strikes directly hit a building, leaving 28 people injured. “In the Beit Shemesh area, MDA EMTs and paramedics have pronounced the deaths of nine,” the Magen David Adom emergency service said.
The rescue teams immediately rushed to the scene, and dead bodies were removed from the rubble of the building that bore the brunt of the missile strike, an AFP photographer confirmed.
Another AFP photographer said that the Israeli rescue personnel brought all kinds of equipment to try to locate people. However, there are still people underneath, and the operation is underway by the team.
The blast was so massive that a house was destroyed as it collapsed due to a reinforced concrete structural failure.
“When I arrived, I saw a terrible scene,” Yehuda Shlomo, an MDA paramedic, said in a statement.
“I saw heavy structural damage, smoke in the air, and a great deal of chaos, with dozens of frightened casualties emerging from damaged buildings.”