Israeli damage from a study after a rocket strike in Iran

As the sirens raised in Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning, Ifat Benhaim and her family ran into their basement.

“We closed the door and suddenly there was such a big boom,” she says. “I thought the whole house fell on us.”

When they came out minutes later, they discovered that their windows were destroying and the layers of dust and debris scattered through the front room.

On their quiet suburban street in Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, the roofs of several homes had invaded. The glass was littered with the road. At least 30 cars were badly damaged, with broken windows and huge indentations.

The Iranian rocket struck shortly after 05:00 local time (03:00 BST).

He came against the backdrop of six waves of Iranian attacks overnight – fired in response to large -scale Israeli air strikes in Iran – who sent millions of people who were running for a shelter.

Two were killed in Rishon Lezion, one of which was referred to by Israeli media as a 73-year-old Israel Alleon. About 19 others were injured.

The ambulances and rescue crews arrived shortly after the rocket struck. Sniffer dogs were used to search for broken concrete and distorted metals for all unexplored ammunition.

Now, ifat, her husband Zion and six younger relatives pack whatever they can from the home they lived in for 29 years – and try to decide where they will stay in the coming days.

One of their neighbors, who did not want to be baptized, said she chose to stay with her daughter that evening – just in case. She may have saved her life.

Another local, 48-year-old Sally Ilan, squeezed some utensils that managed to save from the ruins of her parents’ home.

“It was the first house to be built in the neighborhood,” she says, gesturing behind her. “My father was so impatient to build it.”

“Forty years of memories are gone … It’s heavy in the heart.”

A total of three people were killed all over the country at strikes overnight – two here in Rishon Lezion, one in the nearby town of Ramate Gan. About 76 were injured.

But destruction – even in these areas with the most affected areas – is limited compared to what I have seen in Iran.

Israel’s Operation “Rising Lion” began early in Friday with the murder of senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists. Since then, it has been expanding by struck by Iran’s nuclear facilities, rocket facilities, air protection, military bases, airport and other infrastructure.

The UN Iranian envoy said on Friday night that 78 people had been killed at that moment. On Saturday, an employee of the Iranian Health Ministry said about 800 people were injured.

Iranian state television reported that 60 people – including 20 children – were killed in an Israeli strike on a block of apartments in the capital Tehran.

In Rishon Lezion, not far from homes with the worst affected homes, someone had written a question in a layer of dust on the windshield of the car: “How long?”

This conflict may be less than 48 hours – but this is a question that much of the world is now asking.