He The launch of 181 ballistic missiles from Iran against Israel this Tuesday marked one of the most tense days of the last year among Israeli citizens. Anti-aircraft alarms sounded repeatedly early in the evening throughout the center of the country and in large parts of the south, adding to the sirens that regularly sound in the north due to the shots fired by Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon.
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“We went down to the shelter and decided to stay so we wouldn’t have to go up the stairs all the time with our baby,” said Mijal, 33, who lives in a building in Tel Aviv with her husband, Gai, and their daughter, who He hasn’t even turned a year old yet.
“We had to get her out of bed because she falls asleep early, it is not easy to go down the two floors quickly,” the woman told this newspaper.
This Israeli couple does not have a shielded room in their apartment, but rather a general shelter for all the building’s inhabitants on the ground floor.
In the nearby city of Ramat Gan, Gadi and Stella lived the day more peacefully. Since they live in a new building, the pieces are armored, which obviously makes everything easier. To minimize the distress of your children, ages 3 and 5, the children’s room is precisely the armored refuge to which they, the parents, run when the alarm sounds.
What disturbed them the most was hearing the roars in the background, the explosions
“Usually they never wake up, but this time it didn’t.” Gadi said that when they heard the alarms, and even more so several very close together, the children “got quite scared. But what disturbed them the most was hearing the roars in the background, the explosions, although we didn’t know if they were the interceptions of the missiles on the way or impacts on the ground.”
The Israeli population experiences these situations with a combination of nervousness and at the same time confidence, given that its successful air defense system manages to intercept a high percentage of the missiles on the way.
But, as the Civil Defense Command repeatedly emphasizes, it is not something hermetic, which is why the population is insistently urged to respect the instructions, enter protected spaces as soon as there is an alarm and proceed according to all indications. “That saves lives, it’s proven,” said Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari.
The firing of rockets and missiles that sound the alarms is nothing new in Israel. From the Gaza Strip to southern Israel, it began at the beginning of 2001 and continued, with ups and downs and intervals, until very recently. On October 8, rocket fire began from Lebanon to northern Israel and more than 65,000 inhabitants of the Galilee were evacuated from their homes due to the danger.
But 181 ballistic missiles is something else.
In mid-afternoon, suddenly, the Civil Defense Command announced that it was adjusting the security instructions, adding the entire center of the country and large parts of the south to the already limited north, pointing out that there cannot be crowds of more than 300 people outdoors. nor more than 30 indoors. Besides, You can only go to work or study only if there is certainty that people can reach the reservations on time. That includes Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
On the streets, the dynamics that occur between people are typical of emergency situations. When the first anti-aircraft alarms are heard, people traveling by car try to drive on the right side of the lane in order to park quickly. Israelis are taught that, in case of bombing, it is best to move away from the vehicle and lie on the ground with your hands on your head. The other option, if you are away from home, is to go directly to one of the many shelters that are available throughout Israeli territory.
These emergencies also tend to cause panic and stress among citizens. Once the alarms were turned off, the road leading from Holon to Tel Aviv had a huge traffic jam.
A little later it became clear that the reason for the stagnation was an accident involving three cars, probably caused by the nervousness people feel when hearing the alarm when on the road.
In the background, there are always complex questions like “how long can we live like this.” There are no answers yet.
JANA BERIS – TIME – JERUSALEM
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