Five people have been killed in Iran’s strikes across central Israel overnight, with dozens of people injured, according to Israel’s national emergency service, as the undeclared war between Israel and Iran enters its fourth day.
Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv said Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, blowing out windows, and heavily damaging multiple apartments.
Search and location operations were underway in the northern port city of Haifa, where about thirty people were wounded, emergency authorities said, as dozens of first responders rushed to strike zones. Fires were seen burning at a power plant near the port, media reported.
Iranian state TV said the country fired at least one hundred missiles at Israel, signaling that it had no intention of yielding to international calls for de-escalation as it pressed on with its retaliation for Israel’s surprise attack on Tehran’s nuclear program and military leadership on Friday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed the latest attack employed a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defense systems to target each other.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed the chief of Iran’s armed forces intelligence unit. Iran has confirmed the death of Mohammad Kazemi. According to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency and Iranian state television, Kazemi died along with his deputy Hassan Mohaqeq and commander Mohsen Baqeri in Israeli strikes on Sunday.
In an earlier interview with Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I can tell you that we have their chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran.” Late on Sunday, the Israeli military said it was striking surface-to-surface missile sites in Iran. This comes after Israel attacked Iran early on Friday, hitting nuclear facilities, military sites, and populated areas. Iran has responded with drones and ballistic missiles.
US President Donald Trump says the two sides should make a deal, adding calls and meetings are taking place as the escalation stretches into a fourth day, but Iran says it will not negotiate a ceasefire while under attack. Netanyahu says “the issue here is not de-escalation” but stopping Iran from developing its nuclear capability.
