Israel: first the warning message, then the boom in interceptions

As the missiles flew over the country, messages poured in from people in different parts of the country, waiting in their safes.

“There are a lot of alarms all the time, so we are in the safe… But everything is fine so far,” a mother of two in southern Israel told me by voice note.

“Very, very scary. I still can’t believe this is our life…it was VERY close,” said a message from a Tel Aviv journalist.

“Usually we stay on our floor and don’t go down to the shelter, but this time… we realized we had to go down. »

“It was very loud,” lawyer Efrat Eldan Schechter said in a WhatsApp message from Ra’anana in central Israel, adding that she thought “this is not the end for tonight.” .

“We have to see how this will evolve. It is indeed very scary… but we are strong and confident that our IDF will protect us. Iran has just made a huge mistake.

About an hour after the first message, phones buzzed again with a new alert from the Home Front Command, telling people they could leave shelters and protected areas.

Following the strikes, the IDF spokesperson said there were some strikes in central and southern Israel. Minor injuries were reported.

“At this stage, we do not identify any additional launches from Iran. Stay responsible and listen to instructions,” Daniel Hagari said in a televised address.

Israel says at least 180 missiles were fired, most of them intercepted.