Missile fragments caused damage to two apartments in the city of Lod during an Iranian attack on Saturday, with their respective owners being meters away from the impact site and reporting that their homes were destroyed.
"We were less than two meters from the impact," said one of the affected couples, which is composed of two people in their 20s and their three children. "We heard a loud boom and couldn't imagine that it was right inside our house," the family told Walla.
The family was hiding in one of the interior walls in their apartment after sirens sounded at about 10.00 p.m. in the city, opting for that option because the nearest public shelter is located seven minutes away from their home.
"With small children, it is simply a nightmare to run all the time, so we decided to stay in an inner wall hoping that it would protect us," they told Walla.
They described the situation as a moment of panic, saying that their children (two twins aged four and a three-year-old girl) went into shock the moment they heard the explosion. "We didn't think it was that close to us, but suddenly there was a strong smell and smoke all over the apartment,” they recalled.
“After a few minutes, we discovered that a rocket engine had fallen into our house in the bathroom. It was a serious boom; we didn't imagine it was so close. We were afraid it would explode while we were at home,” they added.
Missile fragments hits apartment bathroom minutes after kids were showering
In another event in Lod, the apartment of a family was struck by missile shrapnel after an alert, destroying the bedroom and shower while the family was taking cover on the stairs of the building.
As in the other situation, the family didn't have time to run to a shelter and instead went upstairs when the alarm sounded.
Fortunately, there were no injuries in either apartment, except for a few panicked victims, but there was extensive damage to property and buildings.
Lod mayor, Yair Revivo, said: “A great miracle happened at the end of Shabbat. Right here at the Shabbat table, about two hours after the Havdalah, a family that was there at the time of the alarm went to the most protected place possible. They were in the shower and didn’t have time to get into the neighborhood shelter, so they went down to the stairwell.”
"You can see how the fragments of the missile penetrated the ceiling through the cracks and broke the shower and the toilet. There is no doubt that if someone had been here, it would have been a very big disaster,” he added.