Tel Aviv rocket scare: Millions rush to shelters amid Yemen threat
On Thursday just before midnight Eastern Time in Tel Aviv and central Israel, alarm sirens wailed. "Millions of Israelis are fleeing to shelters," reported the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The reason was a rocket launched from Yemen.
9:04 AM EDT, September 27, 2024
Recordings published online show, among other things, Israelis abandoning their cars on the streets after the alarm was announced.
Panic on the streets of Tel Aviv
Some people fled to the nearest shelters, while others lay down on the roadway. Many also rushed to subway stations.
Israel Army Radio claims that about 2 million Israelis fled to shelters during the alarm.
Missile launched from Yemen
After midnight, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that the rocket launched from Yemen was successfully intercepted "outside the country's borders" using the long-range Arrow air defense system. It was added that the sirens were activated out of fear of falling missile debris.
The emergency services report that no one was injured; however, "many people had panic attacks or sustained injuries while fleeing to shelters".
The Israel Defense Forces also announced that after the attack, the Home Front Command did not issue any new instructions.
Israel attacked Lebanon; hundreds of casualties
For several days, Israel has been conducting airstrikes in northern Lebanon. In four days of intense airstrikes, nearly 700 people were killed, and thousands were injured. The Israeli army reported that on Thursday, it attacked about 220 Hezbollah targets.
According to Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, about half a million internal refugees fled the bombed areas. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported about 90,000 escapees on Wednesday.
Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon and is supported by Iran, has been fighting Israel with varying intensity for decades and has been regularly shelling the north of the country since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, resulting in strong counterattacks. According to the Israeli military, on Thursday Hezbollah launched about 150 rockets. Some of them were intercepted, while the remaining strikes did not cause significant damage or casualties.
Israel claims that the goal of its intensified bombardments is to kill the group's leaders and fighters and destroy their arsenal, which, according to authorities in Jerusalem, is also stored in civilian facilities.
source: IDF / Times of Israel / PAP
