PETAH TIKVA – When an Iranian missile slammed into this central Israeli city, Miryam was huddled inside the concrete safe room in her family's apartment.
Miryam was unscathed by the blast. But four people in the building next door were killed, and the explosion blew off the doors to the apartment and destroyed the kitchen and bathroom.
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“This was the scariest thing I’d ever experienced,” said Miryam, who spoke to AP on condition that her last name not be used because she serves in the military. “But the right thing is to attack Iran; I don’t want them to have this power over us.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long identified Iran as Israel’s greatest enemy, citing its hostile rhetoric and support for militant groups and accusing it of pursuing nuclear weapons — a charge Iran denies. After years of threats, Israel launched a surprise attack on Friday, killing Iranian military leaders and striking nuclear facilities in a blistering aerial assault.
While no opinion polls have been released yet, the Israeli public — and even Netanyahu’s rivals in the opposition – appears to be lining up behind the military operation in these early days.
Such sentiment was evident in Petah Tikva, a middle-class city outside Tel Aviv where nearly a dozen residents said they support the operation, even after the deadly blast.
The Iranian missiles appear to be the strongest assault on Israel’s heartland since then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s Scud missile attacks during the first Gulf War in 1991.
Residents in the area had packed suitcases, with some headed to stay with relatives and others to hotels paid for by the city. Idle teenagers sat among the wreckage staring at their ruined apartments.
“I still don’t understand it,” said Eitan Tevel, 14, who spent an hour in the safe room of his sixth-floor apartment before emerging to see it damaged. Still, he said, he wants Israel to keep striking Iran.
“If we don’t do it, many people will be destroyed,” he said.
Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Iran. Officials say at least 224 people have been killed in Israel’s air offensive and hundreds others wounded. On Monday, Israel ordered a neighborhood home to over 300,000 people in Tehran, the Iranian capital, to evacuate ahead of an expected bombing campaign.
That has not halted the Iranian missile fire. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 injured, Israeli officials said, after Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones.
By mid-day, first responders in Petah Tikva were still assessing the damage and clearing buildings. Four complexes housing hundreds of families were impacted by the missile, which struck the side of one of the buildings and tore off the exterior.
Windows and doors were blown off, with few cars in the vicinity unscathed. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, visited the neighborhood, calling the attack “pure evil.”
Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, said that as bad as the missile attacks have been, people had expected even worse.
“For many years we were told that when the day comes, we might have to spend days and weeks in bomb shelters and see thousands of buildings crash. That’s not the case,” he said.
But he warned that if there is a sense that Israel is failing to achieve its objectives, support could quickly dwindle.
Older residents in this hard-hit neighborhood said the strikes reminded them of the first Gulf War over 30 years ago.
Israel had limited air defenses, and people feared a chemical attack by the Iraqi leader. Many remember carrying gas masks and sealing windows with tape and plastic.
People now feel protected by Israel’s robust air defenses, but they also believe there's more at stake in this conflict.
“This is more scary,” said Nadav Shomron, 44, who remembers that war as a boy. “If we have a nuclear Iran, Israel can’t exist."