Iranian missile strikes Beit Shemesh in Israel; 9 civilians killed, many injured

Nine people were killed and more than 20 others injured in Israel on Sunday when an Iranian missile struck a residential area in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem. Initial reports put the toll of the missile impact at four, but medics then extracted more bodies from under the rubble, said Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service spokesperson Zaki Heller.

The missile struck a residential area in the city, after which medics took 23 victims to hospitals, including two in serious condition.

The IDF said in a post on X that the Iranian regime purposely targets civilian targets while Israeli forces precisely attack terror targets.

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“The Iranian Regime directly fired missiles toward the civilian neighborhood of Beit Shemesh, killing innocent civilians. The Iranian regime purposely targets civilian targets while we precisely target terror targets. This is who we’re operating against—a regime who uses civilian casualties as their war tactic,” the IDF said.

The military said it had dispatched search and rescue forces and medics to the scene, along with a helicopter to assist with evacuating the injured.

The IDF said that the failure to intercept the Iranian ballistic missile that struck Beit Shemesh is under further investigation.

The military said that the Home Front Command’s early warning system functioned as intended and was activated in Bet Shemesh ahead of the actual sirens, which also sounded.

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Launched new ‘large-scale’ attack against ‘enemy’: Iran’s Guards

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they have launched a new wave of attacks against the “enemy” after Israeli and US strikes killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.

“Moments ago, the seventh and eighth waves of Operation Honest Promise 4 against the enemy were launched on a large scale,” the Guards said in a statement carried by local media, without specifying the targets.