Since the 2026 Iran war began with a series of attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28, 2026, following the breakdown of US-Iran talks and negotiations, locations across Israel have been subject to multiple retaliatory Iranian missile strikes. For several days after the start of hostilities, Israeli airspace was closed, disrupting flights from Ben Gurion Airport and elsewhere in the country. Despite a robust system of missile defense, warning alerts and shelters, Iranian missiles have struck multiple positions across the country. The largest death toll was in a strike on March 1 that targeted a residential neighborhood in Beit Shemesh, kiling nine Israeli civilians.
On February 28, 2026, joint missile attacks were coordinated by the United States and Israel, hitting multiple locations in Iran. US President Donald Trump stated that the attacks were part of an effort to instigate regime change through Iranians taking over their government, among other goals including termination of Iran's nuclear program.[3] Following the strikes, the Iranian government launched retaliatory strikes across the region, with airstrikes hitting countries across the Persian Gulf, but largely focused on Israel.[4]
Civilians sheltering in a converted light rail station in IsraelCivil defense siren and missile explosions sounds in central Israel, March 5, 2026
Israel has a multi-layered missile defense system that includes the Arrow system of anti-ballistic missiles designed to intercept and destroy missiles launched from Iran and from the Houthis in Yemen, David's Sling to intercept drones and medium-ranged missiles and Iron Dome for shorter-range rockets.[5]
After Israel was attacked by Scud missiles in the Gulf War and the challenges and inadequacies of the then-standard communal shelter, the Israeli Home Front Command established upgraded standards for civil defense that included technical specifications for designated protected spaces in all residences, known by its Hebrew acronym as a Mamad.[6] The Mamad is designed as a reinforced security room offering protection against high-impact projectiles, to withstand blast and shrapnel from conventional weapons and offer protection against chemical and biological weapons, with reinforced concrete walls and ceilings measuring 20 to 30 centimetres (7.9 to 11.8in) in thickness and airtight / blast-resistant steel doors and windows.[7][8]
Sirens are set off to notify residents of the area to seek shelter, usually within 90 seconds of the start of the siren. Missiles from Iran can be detected after launch as early as ten minutes before projected impact and an app created by the Israeli Home Front Command can provide Israeli citizens several minutes of advance notice of a possible siren.[9]
Pattern of missile attacks
France 24 reported that the number of missile attacks from Iran had dropped sharply by the fifth day of the war, though it acknowledged that the reasons for the decline were "unclear".[10] An analysis performed by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America showed that there had been a sharp reduction in Iranian missile attacks after the first day of the war, both in attacks targeted against Israel and those aimed at other nations. Their analysis showed that the number of Iranian missiles aimed at Israel was far lower than the numbers launched during the Twelve-Day War in 2025, when the Iranian forces commonly launched large barrages of missiles intended to overwhelm Israel defenses, and hypothesized that the reduction in launches could be attributed to Israeli success in targeting launchers and storage locations in 2025 and joint US-Israeli efforts during the 2026 conflict to eliminate as many as three-quarters of Iranian missile launchers, including those that had been rebuilt in the intervening months.[11] By the tenth day of the war, Iranian missile and drone attacks had dropped by more than 90%, a reduction that was steeper than during the 2025 conflict and that was credited to effective suppression efforts by US and Israeli missions over Iran.[12] Alternative explanations for the reduction in missiles targeting Israel by day 10 of the war including Iranian efforts to preserve what's left in its stockpile and a more unstructured command and control system after the strike in Tehran decapitated much of senior leadership.[13]
Use of cluster munitions
By the tenth day of the war, Iran had fired a total of 300 missiles at Israel, of which nearly half had cluster submunitions, which can spread dozens of explosive warheads over a radius of 10 kilometres (6.2mi), a practice banned by the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty signed by more than 100 nations, but not by Iran.[14] After the Twelve-Day War, Amnesty International condemned Iran's use of these munitions targeting residential areas as "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law," with the organization's Erika Guevara Rosas stating that these are "inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used" and that the manner in which they were fired at Israel "demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law."[15]
The executive director of the Arms Control Association called the Iranian targeting of cluster munition warheads at residential neighborhoods deliberate, saying that "Iran appears to be launching them into relatively populated areas, probably with the goal of producing potential civilian harm."[16]
Incidents
February 28
A missile struck a building in Tel Aviv, killing one and injuring dozens. Despite having advance notice of the Iranian missile launch, the sirens in the area did not sound in time to allow the 90 seconds allocated to make it to a sheltered space.[17][18]
March 1
A missile attack in a residential area of the city of Beit Shemesh, located 18 miles (29km) from Jerusalem, struck a shelter in a synagogue. Nine civilians were killed and dozens were injured.[19] The incident had the largest casualty count since the start of the conflict and was part of a series of what Al Jazeera English described as "retaliatory attacks" following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a targeted attack on a compound in Tehran conducted the previous day.[20] At least two interceptors had been launched against the missile which was a direct hit on the communal shelter; the large death toll demonstrated the limits of Israel's missile defense network and showed that even reinforced shelters could be vulnerable in extreme circumstance.[21]
March 9
Two workers were killed and a third seriously injured in Yehud, outside of Tel Aviv, after being struck by submunitions from an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster bomb warhead.[22] The two had been struck outdoors at a construction site and had not been in a protected shelter; the first victim was killed immediately, while the second victim succumbed the following day. Other areas struck in the same attack wave included Bat Yam, Holon and Or Yehuda.[23]
A missile launched from Iran with a cluster warhead hit a building in Ramat Gan and killed two residents in their 70s, who were found just outside their safe room; another missile targeted at the Jerusalem as part of the barrage was intercepted.[27] A statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called the death of the two civilians "revenge for the blood of martyr Dr. Ali Larijani and his companions," who had been killed a day before as the target of an Israeli airstrike.[28]
March 18
In a series of Iranian cluster bomb attacks, a foreign worker from Thailand at Moshav Adanim was killed by shrapnel from a missile while a group of three women at a beauty salon in the West Bank village of Beit Awwa, near Hebron, were killed when they were struck by debris from a cluster munition.[29][30][31]
A missile strike damaged three empty private planes parked at Ben Gurion Airport, leading Israeli authorities to reduce to 130 the maximum number of passengers permitted on outbound flights.[32]
An Iranian missile attack killed one civilian at a residential building Tel Aviv, the attack left also two wounded. The individual killed was guarding an area in which there had been a fatal missile attack earlier in the war and was struck by a cluster munition while in an unprotected area.[37]
↑Khachidze, Mikheil. "The Mamad: The Room That Saves Lives in Israel", The Times of Israel, June 23, 2025. Accessed March 10, 2026. "When a rocket siren blares and you have less than 90 seconds to take cover, there’s no time to reach a public shelter. In Israel, survival often depends on one specific room: the Mamad. The Mamad (ממ”ד, acronym for Merchav Mugan Dirati — 'residential protected space') is a reinforced security room required by law in all new residential buildings in Israel since the early 1990s.... Israel’s layered defense system — Iron Dome, early warning systems, and the Home Front Command — is widely admired. But what truly sets it apart is the civilian preparedness philosophy."
↑Damiata, Roberta. "Cos'è il 'Mamad', la safe room usata dagli israeliani per proteggersi dagli attacchi"Archived November 10, 2023, at the Wayback Machine , Il Giornale, October 11, 2023. Accessed March 10, 2026. "La superficie del Mamad ad esempio non deve essere inferiore ai 9 mq, con soffitti di 2,5 metri e pareti in cemento armato di almeno 25/30. All'interno devono essere presenti una porta metallica a chiusura stagna in grado di resistere all'onda d'urto di un'esplosione."
↑"Bitter Experiences Drive Israeli Design Practices"Archived June 22, 2025, at the Wayback Machine , Engineering News-Record, December 1, 2003. Accessed March 10, 2026. "In 1992, IDF’s Home Front Command introduced new technical specifications into civil defense law.... The protected spaces are built to withstand blast and shrapnel from various conventional weapons as well as protection against chemical and biological agents. With reinforced concrete walls, ceilings and floors 20 to 30 cm thick, they feature heavy-duty airtight steel-framed windows and doors."
↑Fabian, Emanuel. "Home Front Command deploys new alert system to give earlier warnings for Houthi missiles", The Times of Israel, April 17, 2025. Accessed March 10, 2026. "The Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command announced on Thursday that it was rolling out a new alert system to its mobile app, giving civilians a significantly earlier warning of long-range ballistic missile fire on the country.... Currently, sirens are activated based on the shortest-range threat, regardless of where the missile was launched from. For example, in Tel Aviv, civilians are given 90 seconds to seek shelter — based on rocket fire from Gaza or Lebanon — even if a missile is fired from Yemen, which takes some 10 minutes to reach the country."
↑"Iranian strikes on Israel decrease, although cause remains 'unclear'", France 24, March 4, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "Israel is seeing a decline in launches from Iran as the campaign enters its fifth day, although reasons for it remain unclear. The announcement from the Israeli military came after it said its air defences had been activated to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and explosions were heard around Jerusalem."
↑Ciurcel, Ari. "Iran’s Missile Firepower Has Almost Run Out", Jewish Institute for National Security of America, March 5, 2024. "U.S. Operation Epic Fury and Israeli Operation Roaring Lion reduced Iran’s total daily ballistic missile fire roughly 3 times faster than in June 2025. Iranian ballistic missile launches have fallen 90 percent since the start of the current war, including an 88 percent drop against Israel, compared to an 82 percent decrease over the first five days of Operation Rising Lion. Iran fired more missiles during the first day of Operation Rising Lion than it did during the first five days of the current war combined."
↑"Iran’s missile fire rate has collapsed by 92%: What comes next? - analysis"Archived March 10, 2026, at the Wayback Machine , The Jerusalem Post, March 10, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "Ten days into Operation Epic Fury, the data tells a decisive and irreversible story. Iran’s ballistic missile launch rate has fallen approximately 92% from its day one peak, collapsing from 480 launches on February 28 to just 40 on March 9. Drone launches have followed the identical curve, down 92% from 720 to 60.... By day ten, Iran is firing fewer missiles per day than it managed even at the nadir of the June war, despite starting with an estimated arsenal of 2,500 ballistic missiles."
↑Iddon, Paul. "Iran's use of missiles has been different from what military analysts expected — here's what that may signal", Business Insider, March 10, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "Iran has wielded its missiles and drones to strike most neighboring states in this ongoing war that's raged for 10 days. However, their destructive scale has so far been blunted by the advanced defenses of Israel, the US and their regional Arab partners. Iran's powerful regime armed forces, utilizing a decentralized strategy they devised decades ago, are likely in a race to preserve what's left of their offensive weaponry.... The erratic attacks with small numbers of munitions could also be a sign of Iran's strained command and control.... "
↑Fabian, Emanuel. "Iran has fired some 300 missiles at Israel, about half with cluster bomb warheads — IDF"Archived March 10, 2026, at the Wayback Machine , The Times of Israel, March 10, 2026. Accessed March 11, 2026. "About half of the roughly 300 ballistic missiles Iran has launched at Israel in the current war carried cluster bomb warheads, according to Israel Defense Forces assessments published Tuesday, a day after the munitions killed two people and seriously wounded another in central Israel.... Cluster bomb warheads indiscriminately spread dozens of submunitions, each with several kilograms of explosives, over a radius of around 10 kilometers (6 miles).... Use of the munitions is banned under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, whose over 100 signatories include much of Europe and Africa as well as the UK, Australia and Canada, but not Israel, Iran or the US."
↑"Iran/Israel: Iranian forces’ use of cluster munitions in ‘12 Day War’ violated international humanitarian law", Amnesty International, July 24, 2025. Accessed March 11, 2026. "The Iranian forces’ use of cluster munitions during the ‘12 Day War’ with Israel was a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, Amnesty International said today. Last month, the Iranian forces fired ballistic missiles whose warheads contained submunitions into populated residential areas of Israel, in attacks endangering civilians.... 'Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used. By using such weapons in or near populated residential areas, Iranian forces endangered civilian lives and demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law,' said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.... Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons, and launching indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians constitutes a war crime."
↑Willians, Dan. "Israel Says Iran Is Firing Cluster Warheads Aimed at Civilians", Bloomberg News, March 14, 2026. Accessed March 18, 2026. "'Iran appears to be launching them into relatively populated areas, probably with the goal of producing potential civilian harm,' said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association."
↑"Woman killed, 22 injured in direct strike in Tel Aviv after siren sounded late"Archived March 8, 2026, at the Wayback Machine , Ynet, February 28, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "One woman was killed and at least 22 others were wounded in a direct strike on a residential building during a barrage late Saturday targeting Tel Aviv.... For reasons that remain unclear, the siren did not provide residents with the standard minute and a half to reach a protected space, giving them less time than required, despite an early alert warning of the anticipated launch."
↑Bachega, Hugo; and Greenall, Robert. "Nine dead in missile attack on Israel as Iran strikes region"Archived March 1, 2026, at the Wayback Machine , BBC, March 1, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "At least nine people have been killed and 27 injured in a missile strike on the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, emergency services say.... In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces accused Iran of directly firing missiles toward Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, 'killing innocent civilians'. Officials say a synagogue where people were sheltering from the air raids was hit. The building was completely destroyed - dozens of rescuers were at the scene of the attack searching for people feared to be under the rubble."
↑"At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh"Archived March 1, 2026, at the Wayback Machine , Al Jazeera English, March 1, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "At least nine people have been killed after an Iranian missile strike on the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, as Tehran continues to launch retaliatory attacks a day after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes. The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said on Sunday that nine people were killed and 28 other people were injured by the impact, including two who were in serious condition.... Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh explained that Sunday’s casualties are Israel’s 'highest casualty count' since the attacks began on Saturday."
↑Odenheimer, Natan; Kershner, Isabel; and Browne, Malachy. "9 Killed in Israeli City Near Jerusalem After Iranian Missile Strike The toll in Beit Shemesh was the highest in Israel since the start of the conflict with Iran on Saturday.", The New York Times, March 1, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "The Israeli military and the country’s ambulance service said an Iranian missile had caused the widespread destruction. It was not immediately clear what the target of the strike was, but the Israeli military accused Iran of aiming at civilians.... Some of those killed in Beit Shemesh had been sheltering in a communal bunker beneath a makeshift synagogue that suffered a direct hit, according to officials and paramedics at the scene.... At least two Israeli interceptors were fired in an attempt to stop the Iranian missile that struck Beit Shemesh, according to witness videos obtained by The Times and posts on social media."
↑"Iranian missile strike near Tel Aviv kills 1, injures 2", Xinhuanet, March 9, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "A missile attack from Iran killed a construction worker in central Israel on Monday, the country's Magen David Adom rescue service spokesman Zaki Heller told Xinhua. His death brought the total death toll in Israel since the beginning of the conflict on Feb. 28 to 11, according to official Israeli figures. A second worker at the same construction site in Yehud, east of Tel Aviv, was evacuated to a hospital in critical condition, Heller said. A third person at a separate location sustained serious injuries."
↑Fabian, Emanuel. "Second victim dies after Monday’s Iranian cluster missile strike in central Israel"Archived March 10, 2026, at the Wayback Machine , The Times of Israel, March 10, 2026. Accessed March 10, 2026. "A second man wounded in an Iranian cluster bomb missile strike in central Israel on Monday morning died of his injuries on Tuesday, medical officials said, bringing the death toll from the attack to two. The submunitions from the cluster bomb warhead hit at least six locations across central Israel, including in the cities of Yehud, Or Yehuda, Holon, and Bat Yam.... The two men were working at a construction site in Yehud when one of the cluster bomb munitions from the ballistic missile struck the area. They were not in a bomb shelter or other protective space, according to first responders."
↑"Missile shrapnel falls in Jerusalem's Old City holy sites, police say", Reuters, March 16, 2026. Accessed March 20, 2026. "Shrapnel from ballistic missiles fired by Iran and debris from the Israeli interceptors that shot them down fell on Monday around Jerusalem's walled Old City and some of its most sacred Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites, Israeli police said... Shrapnel from ballistic missiles fired by Iran and debris from the Israeli interceptors that shot them down fell on Monday around Jerusalem's walled Old City and some of its most sacred Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites, Israeli police said."
↑Turgeman, Meir, et. al. "Overnight strike kills elderly couple in Ramat Gan, damages train in central Israel", Ynet, March 18, 2026. Accessed March 18, 2026. "A married couple in their 70s were killed early Wednesday when an Iranian missile with a cluster warhead struck the Tel Aviv area. The man and woman were found in a heavily damaged building in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv District Police Commander Haim Sargarof said the couple had apparently been on the third floor and likely did not make it to their safe room in time. He said they were killed only a few meters from the protected space.... One missile aimed at Jerusalem was intercepted, while the second, directed toward central Israel, carried a warhead that dispersed multiple smaller munitions."
↑"Iran launches ‘revenge’ missile attack on Israel after assassinations", Al Jazeera English, March 18, 2026. Accessed March 18, 2026. "Iran has fired deadly cluster missiles at central Israel in what it says is 'revenge' for Israel’s assassination of its security chief Ali Larijani, as the war the United States and Israel triggered against Iran rages towards a third week. The attack overnight on Tuesday used multiple-warhead missiles that can better evade defence systems, killing two people in Israel’s Ramat Gan area near Tel Aviv.... In a statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack exacted 'revenge for the blood of martyr Dr. Ali Larijani and his companions'"
↑Fabian, Emanuel. "Iranian cluster bombs kill foreign worker in Israel, 3 Palestinian women in West Bank", The Times of Israel, March 18, 2026. Accessed March 19, 2026. "According to footage of one of the impacts there, the missile that killed the foreign worker had carried a cluster bomb. The 30-year-old man sustained critical injuries from shrapnel in Moshav Adanim and was declared dead a short while later, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. He was not immediately named. In the Hebron-area village of Beit Awwa, an apparent cluster munition killed three women and wounded 13 people, two of them critically, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said."
↑Tian, Yang. "Three Palestinian women killed as missile debris hits West Bank beauty salon", BBC, March 19, 2026. Accessed March 19, 2026. "At least three Palestinian women have been killed and eight more injured after missile debris hit a beauty salon in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says. The PRCS said shrapnel hit the site in the town of Beit Awwa, near Hebron, in the southern West Bank. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said fragments reportedly landed on a metal caravan used as a salon as well as several other locations in the West Bank. A Thai worker was also killed from shrapnel which hit a farming community in Israel, Israeli medics said."
↑"Israel Reduces Departing Flights After Iran Missiles Damage Private Planes at Ben-Gurion Airport", Haaretz, March 19, 2026. Accessed March 20, 2026. "Israeli authorities cut by half the number of passengers permitted on outbound flights to the United States on Thursday, allowing approximately 130 passengers per flight, as the number of passengers allowed on Europe-bound flights remains around 120, and is not expected to increase. The decision follows damage caused by Iranian missiles fired in recent days to three private planes that were parked at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport. The planes were empty at the time of the strikes and there were no casualties, but the aircraft sustained damage and caught fire."
↑Fabia, Emanuel. "One killed, several wounded in Iranian ballistic missile attack on central Israel", The Times of Israel, March 28, 2026. Accessed March 28, 2026. "A man was killed and several others were wounded by an Iranian ballistic missile fired at central Israel late Friday, the sixth attack that Iran launched on the country throughout the day. The missile carried a cluster bomb warhead, spreading bomblets over a wide area. A bomblet impact in Tel Aviv killed a 52-year-old security guard who was not in a bomb shelter at the time."
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Iran 
Israel 