**BEIT SHEMESH, Israel** — An Iranian ballistic missile struck a residential neighborhood in this city west of Jerusalem on the afternoon of March 1, killing nine people and wounding dozens in what Israeli officials called the deadliest single missile impact on Israel in that phase of fighting with Iran.
The projectile hit the Ramat Lehi area shortly before 2 p.m., after air-raid sirens sounded across central Israel. The blast destroyed the Tiferet Israel synagogue, heavily damaged a public bomb shelter beneath it and wrecked nearby homes. Rescue teams worked through collapsed concrete and a wide debris field. Helicopters and Home Front Command search units were sent to the scene. About eight residences were reported destroyed or severely damaged.
Magen David Adom declared eight people dead at the site and later confirmed a ninth death. Initial reports said 28 people were taken to hospitals; later tallies put the injured in the dozens, with some accounts exceeding 40. Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek and Hadassah hospitals treated victims that included children. A four-year-old was among those listed in moderate condition. Other patients were described as serious or lightly wounded.
The Israel Defense Forces said air-defense systems were activated but failed to intercept the missile. Officials said the warhead was estimated at about 500 kilograms and that the strike was a direct hit. The Israeli Air Force opened an inquiry into the missed interception. Home Front Command examined the shelter’s condition. Officials said the alert system had functioned before impact.
Jerusalem District Police Chief Avshalom Peled said early on that most of those killed were believed to have been inside the public shelter. Later reporting was less categorical. Some accounts said roughly half the dead were in the shelter when the roof failed and half were outside. About 30 people were reported to have been in the shelter; most survived. Home Front Command officials said the structure met required standards and continued to tell civilians to enter protected spaces when sirens sound, while acknowledging that a direct ballistic hit can overwhelm a public shelter.
Amnesty International later said the attack should be investigated as a possible war crime, arguing there was no apparent military target nearby and that the missile type used was highly inaccurate. Israeli officials described the strike as part of an Iranian barrage against Israeli territory and accused Tehran of deliberately targeting civilians. Iran has framed its fire as retaliation in a wider exchange of missiles and air strikes. Independent investigators have not issued a conclusive finding on intent.
Authorities released the names of the nine dead. They included siblings Yaakov Biton, about 16 or 17; Avigail Biton, 15; and Sarah Biton, 13; and 16-year-old Gabriel (Gavriel) Baruch Revah, a friend of Yaakov’s. Also killed were Oren Katz, 46; Sara Elimelech, 67, and her daughter Ronit Elimelech, 45, a United Hatzalah volunteer; and Bruria Cohen, 76, and her son Yossi (Yosef) Cohen, 41. Ronit Elimelech had gone to the shelter with family after the sirens. Paramedics later found her medical vest and kit in the rubble. Her children were injured and survived. The Biton parents and a younger sister were at home nearby when the blast hit.
The Beit Shemesh toll matched the nine killed when a missile struck an apartment building in Bat Yam during a 12-day Israel-Iran exchange in June 2025. In the March fighting, another civilian death was reported elsewhere in the same period, including a strike in Tel Aviv the day before.
Most incoming missiles in that stretch of the war were intercepted, Israeli officials said. The Beit Shemesh impact showed the cost when one is not. Investigators continued to examine the failed intercept, the shelter’s performance and which homes could not be reoccupied. For the families, the larger campaign narrowed to funerals, hospital rooms and a street that a single warhead turned into a disaster site.
