Miracle amid destruction: Iranian missiles hit Israeli homes, but no lives lost in Arad and Dimona

After bombs the size of a bus hit housing in the southern Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona, hundreds of families have lost everything. Yet remarkably, not one life was lost, and one man even managed to find his wife’s wedding ring in the rubble, according to Ynet News.

IDF spokesman Roni Kaplan commented on the devastating event after two Iranian missiles hit civilian areas in Arad and Dimona within two hours of each other.

“We see here the manifestation of the Iranian threat,” Kaplan told The Times of Israel. “We have a direct impact because our air defenses aren’t hermetic, although they are some of the best in the world.” 

One of the missiles, carrying 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) of explosives, hit Arad in the middle of three residential buildings. Almost 200 have been injured, and many more have lost their homes and everything in them. However, despite the devastation, there were no fatalities at all. 

After every missing person was eventually found alive, police said it was a “very big miracle.” Among the ten seriously wounded was a 12-year-old boy, whose condition has since improved according to Soroka Medical Center. After a successful operation, he was transferred from the pediatric intensive care unit to the pediatric surgical department.

Another mercy was the fact that an after-school program for underprivileged children was empty at the time of impact. The building was destroyed but the program director, Shilgit Kanias, was still grateful. “Thank God the children weren’t there,” she said. “This is a miracle.”

Kanias was encouraged by the swift response as people came to help. “I can already see volunteers cleaning up,” she told the Times of Israel. “Everything will be back up and running… I just don’t know how long it will take.”

Simcha, a worker with the Meser organization, brought in to receive some of the displaced people, relayed her experiences at the scene, telling ALL ISRAEL NEWS:

“My first encounter was with a young Arab woman that lived in one of the buildings and she was really crying. My heart went out to her because you think, “My God, we’re all human beings, we’re all experiencing the same thing, we are all in the same situation.” My heart went out to her. She said she’s been left homeless. It’s hard.”

Another Arad resident, Emmanuel Benjamin, described how he and his wife survived the blast while taking shelter in their safe room. Their lives were saved, but their home was lost.

“We went in, and 30 seconds later there was an explosion,” he told YNet. “I built this house with my own hands. It’s part of me. It’s hard to leave. But it’s good we started this war. You can only imagine what would have happened if Iran had struck first. We have to finish this.”

He may have lost his home, but clearly not his determination to see the war objectives through.

Meanwhile, Dudu Azran, whose Dimona home was destroyed, managed to find something almost as precious as that hope and determination, discovering his wife’s wedding ring in what was left of their home. “They won't defeat us with 300 kilograms of explosives,” he said. “We’ll build anew.”

Less than 5% of all the missiles launched into Israel have evaded interception. Intercepting the missiles is complex, with the Arrow 3 system requiring a head-on collision with a target in space, while Arrow 2 requires missiles to be extremely close in order to detonate them effectively. In addition, Iranian missiles with maneuvering capabilities, even in the presence of minor atmospheric turbulence, can compromise interception attempts.

“Dimona is protected with multilayered defense systems, Israeli and American, but nothing is perfect,” said Ran Kochav, former commander of Israel’s air and missile defense forces and currently brigadier general in the reserves, “There was an operational failure.”

According to the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) of Tel Aviv University, 4,800 Israelis have been displaced due to this round of war with Iran, with 1,575 of them being from Arad and Dimona.

Almost 400 missiles have been fired into Israel, and 550 drones (UAVs) have been launched since Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28. In total, 5,024 Israelis have been injured, and 18 civilian lives have been lost, but the drive to continue and hope for the future remains strong.

“Israelis are a very, very resilient people. What you see here, these buildings will be torn down, but people will definitely rebuild their lives,” said Oriel Moran, correspondent with ALL ISRAEL NEWS.