By: Fern Sidman

A deadly overnight missile barrage launched by the Islamic Republic of Iran claimed at least ten lives in Israel, including several children, in one of the most devastating direct attacks on Israeli civilian populations in recent memory. As rescue operations continued across multiple impact sites on Sunday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intensified its response under the banner of “Operation Rising Lion,” a sweeping military campaign that Israeli officials say has already neutralized key elements of Iran’s radar and missile infrastructure.

According to a report at The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), the heaviest toll was recorded in the city of Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, where an Iranian missile struck a residential building in the pre-dawn hours, killing six, including a 4-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother. Israeli rescue services reported that as of Sunday morning, at least seven individuals remained missing beneath the rubble. The Ayalon region director of the IDF Home Front Command, Daniel Hadad, told JNS that more than 180 people had been wounded in the Bat Yam strike alone.

Simultaneously, tragedy unfolded in the northern town of Tamra, where four members of the Khatib family were killed in their home: Manar Khatib, 45; her daughters Shada, 20, and Hala, 13; and a cousin, Manal Khatib, 41. JNS reported that the family’s home was struck in what Israeli officials described as a deliberate targeting of civilian areas.

In Rehovot, a city in central Israel, 37 civilians were wounded—two critically—when another missile struck a residential complex. The Weizmann Institute of Science, located nearby, sustained structural damage to several facilities. While no injuries were reported at the institute, officials there told JNS they were working in close coordination with emergency and security services to ensure the continued safety of their personnel.

Additional strikes were reported in Haifa, where 13 people were injured, and other parts of the country, bringing the total casualty count to dozens wounded and ten confirmed dead, according to cumulative data reported by JNS and emergency responders.

The response from Israeli leadership was swift and resolute.

“A very sad and difficult morning,” President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday. “Our brothers and sisters were murdered and injured last night in heinous Iranian attacks against the civilian population… Jews and Arabs, longtime citizens and new immigrants, including children and the elderly.” Herzog called for national unity, vowing that “we will mourn together. We will overcome together,” as quoted by JNS.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a far more assertive tone, announcing that Israeli warplanes would soon appear “over the skies of Tehran.”

“We will strike every site and every target belonging to the ayatollah regime,” Netanyahu stated in remarks carried by JNS, underscoring that the objective of Operation Rising Lion is to dismantle both Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and its ballistic missile systems.

JNS reported that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) had already established aerial superiority across western Iran, including the region surrounding Tehran, a move made possible by precision strikes on Iranian radar stations, surface-to-air missile batteries, and mobile launchers. According to Israeli military officials, this marks the first time the IAF has been able to conduct widespread operations across such a broad swath of Iranian territory without significant resistance.

While the operation’s immediate effects are being felt in Iran’s compromised air defense grid, military analysts warn that the Israeli campaign is far from over. According to CNN and corroborated by JNS, Israeli and American sources suggest the military campaign “could last for weeks, not days.”

 President Trump has reportedly endorsed Israel’s approach, offering continued U.S. diplomatic support while avoiding overt involvement.

“The Trump administration firmly believes this can be resolved through continued negotiations with the U.S.,” one American official told CNN, as cited by JNS. “But we won’t dictate how Israel defends its people.”

In a chilling statement, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the press that Iran was “playing with fire,” vowing devastating consequences should further attacks target Israeli civilians.

“Tehran will burn,” Katz said, in remarks echoed in JNS coverage. “The Iranian dictator is turning Iranian citizens into hostages… creating a reality in which they—especially the residents of Tehran—will pay a heavy price for the criminal harm to Israeli citizens.”

Military analysts and regional observers told JNS that the scale and precision of Iran’s missile barrage suggests significant logistical coordination, possibly involving Iranian proxies across the region. This includes threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, all of which have increased attacks on Israeli or U.S.-aligned targets in recent weeks.

The civilian death toll in Israel has already sparked global condemnation and raised urgent questions about the scale of retaliation to come. Yet, despite the human tragedy, the JNS report noted that Israeli officials are increasingly framing this escalation as a turning point—not just in their military doctrine, but in their approach to a regime that has long waged war through proxies and ambiguity.

For years, Israel’s warnings about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional destabilization were met with cautious diplomacy. The events of this weekend, punctuated by the bloodshed in Bat Yam and Tamra, have stripped away that caution.

As JNS emphasized in its coverage, the Israeli response is not merely about retaliation—it is about preemption, deterrence, and message-setting: that no state can launch direct attacks on Israeli cities and expect to escape consequences.

The coming days and weeks will likely shape the trajectory of Middle Eastern security for years to come. What remains tragically certain is that innocent civilians—Israeli and Iranian alike—will continue to bear the brunt of these escalating hostilities.

But for Israel’s leadership, and a population still reeling from the trauma of overnight air-raid sirens and collapsed homes, the mission is unequivocal: to ensure it never happens again.