Reporting from Beersheb, South Israel
EPAImmediately before the truce between Iran and Israel should take effect, residents in the southern Israeli city of Beersheb woke up early on Tuesday by the sound of rocket alarms on their phones.
“Extreme Alert,” Message reads, warning immediate strike. Then the sirens sounded in the streets.
Like the second, Merav Manai and her family headed to her safe room – a safe part of their apartment built of reinforced concrete with heavy metal doors and designed to protect against rocket attacks.
When the Iranian missile hit, they felt the building moving and covered her head with their hands.
“It was so strong that we thought it was the end,” she said.
EPAWhen they appeared, the windows at the front of their apartment shattered the floor from the missile explosion. But they were sure.
Merav stayed in the apartment for several hours, frightened of what would see outside.
It is across the street, a block that is not different on its directly affected and partially demolished.
Four people were killed there. The southern home front commandor said BBC that they were in safe premises when their building started directly.
After the strike, Israeli medical and military personnel rushed in Beersheb to save survivors and recovering the remains. Volunteers and local inhabitants swallowed broken with a glass from the streets.
“I hope that’s the end,” said one BBC man as he surveyed the damage.
EPAIsrael and Iran and Iran confirmed after Bearsheb strike that they agreed on the ceasefire, but then they accused of violating him.
As the residents of Beersheb deal with the shock and harm to their community, they also questioned whether a fragile truce would be held.
On Tuesday afternoon, Oren Cohen, 45 years old, stood among the debris in her garden, overlooked the block that was hit. He said he could not be brought to look at him.
“I was worried about my kids, just to start understanding what happened here,” he said.
Oren was with his wife and three children – older than eight, 12 and 15 – when he hit the strike and said the reinforced window open open to the influence of the explosion.
As he spoke, a group of volunteers in fluorescent vests arrived to help cleanse.
Even after they were directly affected, Oren said he supported Israeli strikes in Iran, which marked the beginning of 12 day conflict.
“I don’t think we had another choice,” he said. “We do what we have to do to protect yourself.”
He said he did not know if he could “count on” a truce, but he believed the Israeli government to know when he achieved his goals.
As Merav first left the house to assess the damage in his community, she and she said she believed that Israel had no choice but to hit Iran.
“That would happen sooner or later. We were ready for it,” she said.
