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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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North London Synagogue, Nursery Targeted in Eighth Local Antisemitic Incident in Just Over a Week
Demonstrators against antisemitism in London on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism
A synagogue and its nursery school in the Golders Green area of north London were targeted in an antisemitic attack on Thursday morning — the eighth such incident locally in just over a week amid a shocking surge of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the area.
The synagogue and Jewish nursery were smeared with excrement in an antisemitic outrage echoing a series of recent incidents targeting the local Jewish community.
“The desecration of another local synagogue and a children’s nursery with excrement is a vile, deliberate, and premeditated act of antisemitism,” Shomrim North West London, a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group, said in a statement.
“This marks the eighth antisemitic incident locally in just over a week, to directly target the local Jewish community,” the statement read. “These repeated attacks have left our community anxious, hurt, and increasingly worried.”
Local law enforcement confirmed they are reviewing CCTV footage and collecting evidence to identify the suspect and bring them to justice.
This latest anti-Jewish hate crime came just days after tens of thousands of people marched through London in a demonstration against antisemitism, amid rising levels of antisemitic incidents across the United Kingdom since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In just over a week, seven Jewish premises in Barnet, the borough in which Golders Green is located, have been targeted in separate antisemitic incidents.
According to the Metropolitan Police, an investigation has been launched into the targeted attacks, all of which involved the use of bodily fluids.
During the incidents, a substance was smeared on four synagogues and a private residence, while a liquid was thrown at a school and over a car in two other attacks.
As the investigation continues, local police said they believe the same suspect is likely responsible for all seven offenses, which are being treated as religiously motivated criminal damage.
No arrests have been made so far, but law enforcement said it is actively engaging with the local Jewish community to provide reassurance and support.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, condemned the recent wave of attacks and called on authorities to take immediate action.
“The extreme defilement of several Jewish locations in and around Golders Green is utterly abhorrent and deeply distressing,” CST said in a statement.
“CST is working closely with police and communal partners to support victims and help identify and apprehend the perpetrator,” it continued.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also denounced the attacks, calling for urgent measures to protect the Jewish community.
“These repeated incidents are leaving British Jews anxious and vulnerable in their own neighborhoods, not to mention disgusted,” CAA said in a statement.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the United Kingdom has experienced a surge in antisemitic crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.
Last month, CST published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism despite being an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
In previous years, the numbers were significantly lower, with 1,662 incidents in 2022 and 2,261 hate crimes in 2021.
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Germany to Hold Off on Recognizing Palestinian State but Will Back UN Resolution for Two-State Solution
German national flag flutters on top of the Reichstag building, that seats the Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Germany will support a United Nations resolution for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does not believe the time has come to recognize a Palestinian state, a government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.
“Germany will support such a resolution which simply describes the status quo in international law,” the spokesman said, adding that Berlin “has always advocated a two-state solution and is asking for that all the time.”
“The chancellor just mentioned two days ago again that Germany does not see that the time has come for the recognition of the Palestinian state,” the spokesman added.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.
The United States strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognize Palestinian independence.
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US has told other countries that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems.
Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia, and many Arab states that have recognized Palestinian independence for decades.
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UN Security Council, With US Support, Condemns Strikes on Qatar
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel‘s ally the United States.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance US and Israeli interests.
The United States traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations. US backing for the Security Council statement, which could only be approved by consensus, reflects President Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the attack ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.
The Doha operation was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the Security Council statement read.
The Security Council will meet later on Thursday to discuss the Israeli attack at a meeting due to be attended by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.