Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Saturday warned that “Tehran will burn” if Iran fired more missiles at Israel, as the arch foes traded fire for a second day.
“The Iranian dictator is turning the citizens of Iran into hostages and bringing about a reality in which they – especially the residents of Tehran – will pay a heavy price because of the criminal harm to Israeli civilians,” Katz was quoted as saying in a statement.
“If (Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles toward the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn.”
Israel’s fire service said its personnel were responding to multiple “major” crises caused by an Iranian missile attack, including efforts to rescue persons trapped in a high-rise structure.
“Firefighting crews are handling several major incidents, mainly in the Dan region” in and around Tel Aviv, the statement stated. It continued that “firefighters are working in a high-rise building to rescue trapped individuals and extinguish a fire, as well as responding to two additional destruction sites.”
AFP images from central Tel Aviv showed fire and smoke billowing from a residential skyscraper, with a massive hole at its base caused by an explosion.
After targeting Iranian military and nuclear sites, the Islamic Republic responded with a fleet of drones and two missile salvos.
“In both series, less than 100 missiles were fired, most of which were intercepted by air defence systems or did not reach them,” Israel’s military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a statement.
“There are a limited number of hits on buildings, some from shrapnel from the interception,” he added.
An AFP correspondent said that immediately after the first salvo, a heavy plume of smoke billowed above Tel Aviv.
AFPTV photos of Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb, showed a roadway filled with debris from surrounding houses whose facades had been shattered by a missile blast.
First responders tried to rescue a dozen automobiles from a wrecked residential building that had been damaged by falling concrete, metal bars and wooden boards.
A representative for Israel’s first responders agency, Magen David Adom, told private Israeli television channel 12 that the rockets injured 21 individuals, two of whom were in serious condition.
AFP video from Ramat Gan showed an injured guy standing on the street, his nose wrapped in gauze and his clothing drenched in blood.
