An Iranian ballistic missile on Sunday killed nine people, some of whom were in a bomb shelter, left several missing, and wounded dozens, including several children, in Beit Shemesh.
Three of those killed were named as teenage siblings, Yaakov (16), Avigail (15), and Sarah (13) Bitton, authorities announced on Monday.
There were also some other minor hits in other parts of the country, and along with one woman who died overnight between Saturday and Sunday, the number of Israelis killed by Iranian missile fire has risen to 10, along with nearly 500 wounded, though mostly with light wounds.
Up to eight residences and the bomb shelter were destroyed in the attack, with about half of those killed in the shelter when the roof collapsed and the other half killed outside the shelter.
Despite the bomb shelter casualties, IDF Home Front Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Shai Klepper urged all Israeli citizens to continue to go to bomb shelters and safe rooms since, short of a direct hit, they provide life-saving protection.
Some 30 ambulances from Magen David Adom were dispatched to the scene in Beit Shemesh, while the IDF said that Home Front Command Search and Rescue teams, combined with numerous medical forces and a helicopter to evacuate the wounded, were operating at the scene.
Hadassah-University Medical Center said that 18 of the wounded, including three children, were evacuated to its campus in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem. Another 17, including four children, were evacuated to its campus on Mount Scopus.
The IDF also said that the early warning system functioned as planned and was activated in the impact area while the situation was being investigated.
A rocket also landed in central Israel.
In addition, a woman in her 60s died after being evacuated to the emergency department at Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv due to experiencing shortness of breath while making her way to a safe room during the first round of sirens early Sunday morning.
She was transported by MDA as resuscitation efforts were underway. Despite the medical team’s efforts to save her, doctors were forced to pronounce her dead.
The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
All of this occurred as Iran increased its volume and pace of ballistic missile attacks toward Israel early Sunday, with several rounds of siren warnings ringing out across the country one after another in response to the Islamic Republic admitting the death of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Although it turns out Khamenei was killed likely in the war’s opening moments by around 30 bombs at around 8 am Saturday morning, the more intense response only came later.
The Islamic Republic only acknowledged his death after 3 am Sunday morning, and it appeared to take a couple more hours to organize a full coordinated response.
While the IDF has still not confirmed the volume of missile attacks, anecdotally, the pace of salvos and the volume of booms Sunday morning were unprecedented for this round of fighting and were more comparable to the worst large rounds of attacks in June 2025, some of which involved up to 200 ballistic missiles.
In contrast, on Saturday, if around 150 missiles might have been fired at Israel over the course of the day, the salvos appeared to be limited to a dozen or at most a couple of dozen missiles per salvo, spread across around 10 salvos over 24 hours.
In total, Tehran entered this latest round of conflict with around 2,500 ballistic missiles.
However, it has also already fired hundreds of missiles on five other Sunni Arab countries in the region with American bases.
Likewise, US and American attacks appear to have destroyed at least 100 ballistic missiles, though that number could be significantly higher.
In June 2025, Iran had 3,000 ballistic missiles and 400 missile launchers.
Israel destroyed around half of the missiles and launchers over 12 days, eventually reducing the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile volume from 200 per day to around 10 per day.
IDF Home Front Command on Sunday morning said that it was far more ready for Iran’s ballistic missile attacks during the 12 Day War in June.
Based on lessons learned from the previous conflict, the Home Front Command credited the military and the civilian population with fewer hits, deaths, and wounded.
The procedure of an initial general warning 10-20 minutes before a threat, followed by a siren around 90 seconds before a threat, along with general civilian awareness of staying near safe rooms and bomb shelters, has made the country far safer, the IDF said.
Kleper has been in his role since July 2025.
There are now more rescue teams – with dozens able to cover the country in the event of large impacts – than there were in June 2025.
Most missiles have been fired from Western Iran, the closest part of the country to Israel.
The US and Israel have not yet succeeded in pushing ballistic missile launches back toward central and eastern Iran, which eventually started to occur in June 2025.
The IDF was hopeful that this tactical shift of pushing the missile firing lines further away from Israel would occur in the coming days.
According to the Home Front Command, all air travel to and from Israel will be closed for at least another day, with the situation being re-evaluated on a daily basis going forward.
For now, the economy and school system are closed, with only essential services open.