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The Middle East conflict dramatically intensified on Tuesday evening as Iran launched a major rocket attack on Israel.
Two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel in Tel Aviv, Israel's emergency services said, after Iran launched more than 100 missiles at Israel. Only minor cases of anxiety and injuries from running to bomb shelters have been recorded, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
A Palestinian in the occupied West Bank's Jericho was killed in the attack, the Wafa news agency reported, and several fires broke out as a result of shrapnel and missiles landing in the area. Local reports suggested the man was a worker from Gaza.
The National witnessed more than 15 rockets at an altitude of about 1,500 metres as they sailed over Jerusalem, apparently en route to Tel Aviv or settlements near the city.
An Israeli emergency text was received just after 7.30pm local time – the nationwide alert showed that in more than 100 towns and villages people had less than 10 minutes to find shelter. Just a few minutes later, air raid sirens began wailing in Jerusalem and cars started sounding their horns.
The first missiles flew overhead in the night sky, soaring in an arc of yellow flame. The salvo came from the east and passed directly over the centre of Jerusalem, then continued its journey seemingly without being intercepted.
Later, a number of interceptor missiles speared into the night sky hitting some of the rockets. The sound of the sirens intensified as more rockets came overhead and as The National withdrew to a hotel bomb shelter, a succession of booms could be heard. Inside the shelter, hotel residents and staff sat and listened as explosions echoed across the city.
Some wore worried expressions, knowing that this most recent onslaught from Tehran, which had been telegraphed several hours earlier by US sources, could well herald a significant escalation.
“We don’t know where this will stop now,” said an US aid worker at the hotel. “It’s all now a question of how Israel responds. If they go hard at Iran then we will be witnessing more of these attacks again very soon.”
People sat clutching their mobile phones as footage began to flood social media. Unverified video clips showed several missiles landing in the settlement of Netzarim near Gaza. Another showed at least five hitting near or on to the occupied West Bank settlement of Efrat, 12km south of Jerusalem.
Several people were also reportedly injured in Jordan when missiles landed in central parts of the country.
The strikes came days after the leader of the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on southern Beirut. In the last two weeks, Israel claims to have killed most of the group's senior leadership in Lebanon in strikes which have killed more than 900 people, according to the country's Health Ministry. Iran had said the killing would bring about Israel's "destruction," but has so far ruled out sending troops to Lebanon.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had attacked Israel with "dozens of ballistic missiles" in response to the assassinations of senior officials in Iran-affiliated groups across the region. In a statement carried by pro-IRGC telegram channels, the paramilitary group said its air force units had targeted "important military and security targets" and that it would announce further details later.
The IRGC warned Israel against retaliation, and threatened "further crushing and destructive attacks" in the event of an Israeli response. It said the attack took place after a "period of self-restraint" by the Islamic Republic and came in response to the assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in August.
It is the biggest confrontation between the two foes since April, when Iran launched around 300 drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria. The majority of those were shot down. Then, Israel's response was a one-time strike on the city of Isfahan in central Iran which was interpreted as a warning of how far it could reach.
The Pentagon said Iran had fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, about double the number it launched during the similar attack on April 13.
But unlike that attack, it appears that some Iranian rockets managed to penetrate Israel’s defences.
Neighbouring nations Jordan and Iraq closed their airspaces shortly after the missiles were launched, with Lebanon, the subject of two week of instense bombing by Israeli bombing, following hours later. Jordan said the decision is “temporary” and was taken after the recent “escalation in the region”, which could affect aviation safety.
Jordan was a main pathway for Iranian missiles and drones the last time Iran directly attacked Israel. Jordan’s military, which is supported by the US, said at the time that it had intercepted the projectiles to protect the country’s territorial integrity.
After the attack, US President Joe Biden said he had directed military assets to aid Israel’s defence.
"Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel," Mr Biden told reporters. He said that the type of response to Iran "remains to be seen".
Shooting attack
The barrage of missiles came just moments after six people were killed and nine wounded in a shooting in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, police said. They described the attack as terrorist-related and said police officers were assessing the area.
The two assailants opened fire toward the city’s light rail system and were shot dead by a passer-by and a security guard, police said. Four of the injured are in serious condition.
Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Lizzie Porter in Istanbul and Jihan Abdallah in Washington contributed to this report
