Iranian strikes are 'different ball game' in devastated streets of Tel Aviv

Paramedics struggle as Tehran's retaliation on Israel wrecks homes and neighbourhoods

Missile alerts are nothing new in Tel Aviv, but an Iranian hypersonic counter-barrage is inflicting greater devastation than the Israeli city is used to.

Assi Gregoire, a 57-year-old cleaner, heard an alarm go off at 4am during one strike, with police and rescue teams arriving “almost immediately” to check the area. His family was put up in a hotel and volunteers helped him to move his belongings.

Since Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran last Friday, its Home Front Command has been on the alert for the retaliation threatened by Tehran. But with the well-drilled response there was shock for Mr Gregoire's family at how badly their home was damaged and how much they had to leave behind.

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“We couldn’t imagine the damage. It was devastating, truly overwhelming,” said Mr Gregoire, who is from the Ivory Coast. “And what could we do?

“I think it’s better to make peace everywhere in the world. After what I saw yesterday, I believe even more strongly that peace is everything. We should embrace one another. We need a world of justice and peace.”

Rows of cars were written off and covered in dust after an Iranian counter-strike. Thomas Helm / The National

After the strike on Monday night, a special education school shut down all operations after the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Bnei Brak suffered heavy damage.

An elderly man was killed. One municipal worker at the scene said the man had refused to move into a shelter and lived in a kind of storage cabinet.

Soldiers, rescue workers, police and firefighters were at the scene on Tuesday while residents crawled over debris with shards of glass beneath. Outside the homes, there were rows of cars completely written off, covered in dust.

Uri Schacham, a paramedic with Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom, said Iran's counter-attacks posed a different threat to what Tel Aviv is used to. Tehran says it has fired hypersonic missiles and other weapons in response to Israel's campaign of bombardments and killings.

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When 200kg of explosives land “it doesn’t just affect a building but the entire street,” Mr Schacham said. Emergency teams used to responding to a handful of shrapnel injuries now find partially collapsed buildings and raging fires, he said.

On Tuesday morning, they found all the residents of a 10-storey building coming down to the street. “It’s a whole different ball game for those first to arrive,” he said.

“The situation is harder to control. The injuries are different, much more blast injuries, which are harder to assess in the field. Numbers that are way higher than we used to have for the past 20 years.”

The escalation has heavily affected flights in the Middle East, with even Israel's usually resilient Ben Gurion Airport closed. Some people have returned to Israel over a land crossing with Egypt.

Tel Aviv residents have been forced to pack their belongings and move to a hotel. Thomas Helm / The National

Inside abandoned homes in Tel Aviv glass shards were everywhere after windows were blown out. With no electricity, the smell of rotting food escaped from freezers.

Young volunteers from a pre-military training academy were there to help the disadvantaged neighbourhood, with not enough support given by the municipality.

Hebrew religious books were strewn across one ultra-Orthodox home. In another, Ethiopian Christian house, Amharic books lay scattered next to images of the Virgin Mary. In Mr Gregoire’s house, a shrine to Pope John Paul II lay untouched in his living room.

“This morning, since we hadn’t finished gathering our essentials, we came back to pick up what’s most important – some clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils. But honestly, most of our things were left behind,” he said.

“We don’t have children. It’s just my wife and me. The young girl with us is our niece. She lives with us, and she’s with us now.

“We’re waiting. We’re not working at the moment, and we don’t know when or how we’ll be able to work again. For now, we’re staying at the hotel. They told us it’s for a week, but after that – who knows? We’re waiting to see what the government or the municipality decides.”