Iranian strikes on populated areas of Israel overnight killed at least eight people, the local authorities said on Monday, as Israel’s military attacked military sites in Iran and the four-day-old conflict between the Middle East’s two most powerful militaries showed no sign of slowing.
Four of the people died when a missile hit a residential block in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva, and three more in Haifa, the local authorities said. An 80-year-old man died when his home collapsed as a result of a shock wave from a strike in Bnei Brak, a city east of Tel Aviv.
Sigal Kovalski, 47, who lives in Petah Tikva, said that she and her family heard an explosion and saw dust trickling into the room where they were sheltering. When they emerged, they found their apartment completely ruined.
“The windows were broken, the floor was covered with shattered glass and the furniture was in pieces,” she said.
Photos and videos from Petah Tikva showed a high-rise residential building with several floors blackened and visibly blown outward, with concrete and debris dangling from the blast site.
Nearly 100 people were injured across central Israel on Monday, including in Haifa and Tel Aviv, and search and rescue operations were continuing, according to Magen David Adom, the national emergency service.
Iranian missiles also hit Israel’s largest oil refinery, in Haifa Bay in northern Israel, according to footage verified by The New York Times. Firefighters were trying to contain a blaze ignited by the strike and to rescue people trapped in the area, said Tal Volvovitch, a spokeswoman for the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority.
The attacks followed a day of strikes on multiple locations in Iran and Israel, including a rare daytime Israeli air raid on Tehran that caused casualties and damage to buildings and infrastructure. Internet traffic from Iran dropped significantly, according to NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group. That left many Iranians unable to contact emergency services or connect with the outside world.
The fighting, which began on Friday with an Israeli attack on Iran, has been the fiercest and most prolonged between Israel and Iran in decades. It has stoked fears of a wider regional conflict that could draw in the United States and other powers.
The Israeli strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran, according to the country’s health ministry. Several top Iranian security chiefs are among the dead, and more than 1,400 people have been injured.
In Israel, at least 21 people, identified as civilians, have been killed in Iran’s retaliatory barrages since Friday, according to the national emergency service.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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