Eight Israelis murdered, dozens wounded  in Iranian missile barrage | WATCH  

Eight people were murdered early this morning (Monday) in central and northern Israel, following a heavy barrage of missiles fired from Iran towards Israel. 4 were murdered in a direct strike on a residential building in Petah Tikva, 3 in a nearby factory in Haifa and 1 in Bnei Brak.

Hours after the Home Front Command's alert, sirens were heard across the country – first in the north, and later in Sharon, Jerusalem, the center, and Eilat. Some of the missiles managed to breach the air defense systems and directly hit populated buildings.

A preliminary investigation by the IDF's Home Front Command has revealed that the missile which struck a residential building in Petah Tikva early Monday morning, killing four civilians, landed directly between two reinforced safe rooms (“mamad”), in what officials described as a rare and devastating scenario.

The projectile was confirmed to be a heavy ballistic missile. According to IDF experts, the direct hit left no chance of survival for those in the immediate area. Tragically, two of the victims were inside one of the reinforced rooms at the time of the strike.

The other two fatalities included a resident believed to have been outside a protected space on an upper floor, and a neighbor in the adjacent building, who was killed by the blast wave.

Home Front Command officials emphasized that while “mamad” rooms are effective at shielding against shrapnel and nearby blasts, they are not engineered to withstand a direct missile impact—an exceedingly rare event. Remarkably, other residents who were sheltering in similar reinforced rooms on floors above and below the impact site were unharmed.

Rescue and police forces are operating at multiple sites concurrently. Magen David Adom reported that 87 injured individuals have been evacuated to hospitals so far. Among the injured: a woman in her 30s in critical condition with facial injuries, five in moderate condition, and 81 in light condition. There were also reports of children injured from the blast or flying glass. Rescue operations are still ongoing at several locations.

The wounded were transferred to several hospitals across the country: 14 injured were evacuated to Ichilov - one of them in moderate condition. 38 injured arrived at Beilinson, of which two are in serious condition, three moderate, and 33 mild. Seven were evacuated to Wolfson - six mild and one moderate. 17 children were evacuated to Schneider - one moderate, the rest mild. Seven mildly injured, including two children, were evacuated to Mayanei Hayeshua.

MDA paramedic Yissachar Weiss described the scene of the attack: "There was a large fire, vehicles caught fire, and injured people emerged from the rubble. We gathered them, provided initial treatment, and transferred them to hospitals."

Moti Bukchin, spokesman for ZAKA and a resident of Petah Tikva who has volunteered with the organization for three decades, told Channel 14: "Unfortunately, I have been at countless scenes throughout my life, but last night was particularly painful to see the destruction, the injured being evacuated, the people left homeless, and sadly the victims who were killed by the direct strike."