‘An Insane, Terrifying Boom’: Haifa Area Residents Recall Missile Barrage

Jerusalem, 15 October, 2024 (TPS) -- Hezbollah continued firing missiles at the Haifa and Upper Galilee areas on Tuesday, triggering sirens and sending residents to shelters on Tuesday. One missile struck the courtyard of an apartment building in Kiryat Bialik.

“When we heard the siren, my parents and I immediately went to the shelter. When we heard the boom, we knew it was really close to us. It felt like it was in our house. It was an insane, terrifying boom,” Kiryat Bialik resident Michel Boudion told The Press Service of Israel.

“Afterward, we went outside and saw that the house had been damaged; windows were shattered and displaced. It was terrifying, and we’re lucky to be okay. The last time there were falls further away from here. It’s a constant fear that something will fall, and it’s very frightening,” she told TPS-IL.

Nobody was injured by the rocket fall in Kiryat Bialik, which damaged an apartment building.

“When we got to the street, we saw the fall. Some of the windows of the nearby buildings were smashed and there was destruction in the yard. We entered the building and did a search. The residents followed the instructions of the Home Front Command and as soon as the alarm sounded, they entered the protected area of ​​the neighborhood and waited there for 10 minutes,” said Magen David Adom senior paramedic Itai Mazur.

“The discipline of the citizens saves lives, the incident could have ended in serious injuries,” Mazur added.

Several other homes were damaged by falling debris from interceptions in Krayot, a cluster of municipalities near Haifa.

“Seconds after we closed the shelter door we heard a loud noise of falling and felt the shaking,” recalled Galit Shmoeli-Pesha, an MDA emergency medicine medic whose home was among those damaged. “Some children who were in the shelter were anxious and I calmed them down. After I left the shelter I went up to the apartment and saw the damage. There is no doubt that if I had not listened to the instructions and had not entered the shelter the incident could have ended completely differently.”

The barrage also caused a fire in the En Afek nature reserve just north of the Haifa Metropolitan area.

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. According to figures released by the government on Sept. 29, more than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.

According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the terror group is forbidden from operating in southern Lebanon south of the Litani River.