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As Israel Pounds Tehran, Central Israeli City Still Searches for Missing From Iran’s Deadliest Strike
Rescue personnel work at an impact site following a missile attack from Iran, in Bat Yam, Israel, June 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The search continued Tuesday for a woman still unaccounted for after Iran’s deadliest strike on central Israel, which devastated residential neighborhoods in Bat Yam early Sunday. As recovery crews combed through the ruins, a small moment of relief came Tuesday when Home Front Command and police teams pulled two puppies alive from a damaged apartment.
The dogs had been trapped inside since the strike and were transferred to Bat Yam Municipality’s veterinary services for medical care. Authorities are now attempting to locate the evacuated owners to reunite them with the surviving pets.
Bat Yam Mayor Zvika Brut with the puppies found in the rubble caused by Iranian strike in the central coastal city of Bat Yam. Photo: Vadim Action
The strike, which flattened parts of the densely populated coastal city just south of Tel Aviv, killed eight people and wounded 180 others. Among the dead were Efrat Saranga, 44; Bella Ashkenazi, 90; Michael Nahum, 61; Meir Voknin, 53; and four Ukrainian nationals who had relocated to Israel after Russia’s invasion of their homeland.
The Iranian missile, estimated to weigh 500 kilograms, obliterated dozens of buildings in Bat Yam. According to local officials, roughly 75 structures sustained varying degrees of damage, some reduced entirely to rubble. Residents returned to scenes of total destruction, their homes unrecognizable.
“It’s a huge mess, debris everywhere, shrapnel inside the house, and we weren’t even directly hit,” Boris, a local resident, told The Algemeiner. He said authorities had not allowed him to retrieve any personal belongings from his apartment, adding that he had no home insurance. “Even if I did, most policies don’t cover terror attacks unless you add special terrorism coverage,” he said.
Under Israeli law, the Property Tax Authority is responsible for compensating victims of war or terrorism for structural damage. However, coverage for the contents of homes is limited and typically excludes valuables like jewelry or art.
“I’ve lost everything, but I’m alive, and that’s what matters,” Boris said.
Chana Ohana, 77, another resident of the devastated area, described the terror as the missiles struck. “The booms were so loud, I was sure that was the end of me,” she said. Displaced from her home, she said she had nowhere to go. “The police are supposed to arrange a hotel, but nothing yet. My son will come for me, but his apartment is tiny, and there’s no bomb shelter nearby.”
The barrage on Bat Yam marked one of the most lethal Iranian assaults since hostilities between the two countries escalated last week. Iranian strikes have targeted civilian areas across Israel following Israel’s attack on Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure Friday, in what Israeli officials described as a preemptive move to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene of the strike. “We are here because we are in the middle of an existential struggle, that all Israeli citizens understand,” Netanyahu said. Standing amid the debris, he warned of the stakes involved. “Think about what would happen if Iran had a nuclear weapon to drop on Israeli cities. Think about what would happen if Iran had 20,000 such missiles. Not one, but 20,000. An existential threat to Israel,” he said. “But we are on the way to victory,” he concluded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the site of the Iranian strike in Bat Yam. Photo: GPO
Since the devastation in Bat Yam, a series of fresh Iranian missile strikes have hit Israel in the ensuing days. In an aerial barrage overnight Sunday, missiles hit residential buildings in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva, and Haifa. In central Tel Aviv, two missiles struck near the US Embassy damaging almost a kilometer of property and injuring dozens. In Petah Tikva, four people were killed; three died in Haifa, where an Iranian missile blast damaged the Bazan oil refinery, triggering a fire and temporarily shutting down part of its operations, the ripple effects of which are being felt in the regional energy market. Global oil prices temporarily surged to the mid-$70s per barrel before stabilizing.
Israel, meanwhile, has escalated its campaign deep into Iran. On Tuesday the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it had launched a major airstrike on a command center in central Tehran, killing Ali Shadmani, Iran’s newly appointed wartime chief of staff. Shadmani, an aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who held his post for three days before being killed, succeeded Mohammad Bagheri, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with IRGC commander-in-chief Hossein Salami on Friday.
Israel also struck additional nuclear and military infrastructure across Tehran, including sites tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and missile production, triggering mass evacuations of Tehran.
The post As Israel Pounds Tehran, Central Israeli City Still Searches for Missing From Iran’s Deadliest Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.