Broken pieces of cement, twisted metal and scattered household items were left behind where homes once stood. An acrid smell of burned materials filled the air.
One man stood crying in the ghastly aftermath of an Iranian missile strike that killed at least nine people in central Israel on Sunday afternoon, the worst casualty toll in the country after two days of conflict with Iran.
Hours after the direct hit on a residential district in Beit Shemesh, about 18 miles west of Jerusalem, dozens of military personnel in khaki uniforms and orange helmets were searching through the debris.
As the sun was setting, rescue workers said several people were still missing.
The Israeli military and the country’s ambulance service said an Iranian missile had caused the widespread destruction. It was not immediately clear what the target of the strike was, but the Israeli military accused Iran of aiming at civilians.
“I heard a huge explosion, and my wife was pushed forward by the blast,” said Liran Elimelh, 42, who lives nearby. A former volunteer first-responder, he said he rushed out to help.
“Flames were blazing, homes were reduced to rubble, and I saw body parts scattered around,” he said.
“If it had been just a few meters to the left or right, it could have been my family,” he added.
Israel’s police chief, Danny Levy, appealed for people to call a special help line to report the names of anyone they know who has not been accounted for.
The attack occurred after Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official, wrote in a post on social media that Iran would hit Israel and the United States “with a force that they have never experienced,” in retaliation for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.
Some of those killed in Beit Shemesh had been sheltering in a communal bunker beneath a makeshift synagogue that suffered a direct hit, according to officials and paramedics at the scene. Others were found out in the open, said Zeev Druck, a spokesman for ZAKA, an Israeli organization that recovers bodies. He said he was part of the team identifying bodies at the scene. Many of them were charred, he said.
In addition to the deaths, the ambulance service said that at least 46 people had been injured, and were evacuated to hospitals.
The Israeli news media named three of the dead as Sara Elimelech and Ronit Elimelech, a mother and daughter, and Oren Katz. The other victims were not immediately identified publicly.
At least two Israeli interceptors were fired in an attempt to stop the Iranian missile that struck Beit Shemesh, according to witness videos obtained by The Times and posts on social media.
Streets in the area were dotted with burned, upturned cars and roofs were blown off buildings around the impact site.
“At first I did not recognize the place, even though I know it well,” said Moshe Shitrit, the deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh, who said he arrived at the site shortly after the strike. “Three homes were wiped off the map, and a roof of a shelter collapsed. There was panic all around.”
Israel has successfully intercepted many of the Iranian missiles. But the strike on Beit Shemesh showed that the country’s air defenses were not hermetic, the chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said. It also showed that bomb shelters were not always able to withstand a direct hit by missiles carrying half a ton of explosives, such as this one, according to Israeli officials.
Photos and videos from the scene shared by rescue workers and independently verified by The Times showed that fires were blazing in at least two locations. Emergency responders rushed a toddler covered in blood from the scene.
A building that Google Maps described as a bomb shelter was destroyed by the strike, a Times analysis of videos and aerial images of aftermath shows. A videoshowed the ceiling of a structure collapsed on a row of chairs set against a wall. Other images showed emergency crews working to quench the fires and several body bags laid on the ground.
The strike in Beit Shemesh followed a direct hit on a residential building in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night that killed a woman who was identified by the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv as Mary Ann de Vera, 32, a Filipino caregiver.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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