By Alexander Cornwell, Parisa Hafezi and Steve Holland
Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on Sunday, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders convening in Canada on Sunday would reach an agreement to help resolve the conflict and keep it from escalating.
The Israeli military, which launched the attacks on Friday with the stated aim of wiping out Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to evacuate.
“Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments where six people were killed in Bat Yam, a town south of Tel Aviv.
Iran’s armed forces told residents of Israel to leave the vicinity of “vital areas” for their safety.
“Do not stay or travel near these critical areas,” an Iranian armed forces spokesperson said in a video broadcast by state TV around the time that Iran sent a new barrage of missiles towards Israel.
In Israel, rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13.
Explosions rattled Tel Aviv in the afternoon as Iran launched its first daylight missile raid since Israel attacked on Friday. There were no immediate reports of direct hits in the initial barrage.
Hours later, shortly after nightfall, Iran launched a second wave of missiles, which struck Haifa, a mixed Jewish-Arab city in northern Israel. An Israeli military official said that an elderly care facility was hit. The national emergency service reported 9 people were injured in the strike, along with 2 others following a missile impact in southern Israel.
In Bat Yam on Sunday evening, shocked residents gathered to survey the damage, while many across Israel braced for another sleepless night, unsure of what may come next. “It’s very dreadful. It’s not fun. People are losing their lives and their homes,” said Shem, 29, whose home was shaken overnight when a missile struck a nearby apartment tower.
In Iran, images from the capital showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran’s oil and gas sector – raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state.
Iran has not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-storey apartment block flattened in Tehran.
Source: Reuters
