BEIT SHEMESH, Israel — An Iranian ballistic missile struck a residential neighborhood in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, shortly before 2 p.m. on March 1, killing nine people and injuring dozens in what was reported as the deadliest single missile impact in Israel during the conflict with Iran.
The missile struck the Ramat Lehi neighborhood after air-raid sirens sounded across central Israel. The impact destroyed the Tiferet Israel synagogue, caused extensive damage to the public bomb shelter beneath it, and damaged surrounding homes. Rescue teams searched through collapsed concrete and a wide field of debris as military search-and-rescue units and emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene.
Magen David Adom initially reported eight deaths at the scene and later confirmed a ninth. Twenty-eight injured people were initially transported to hospitals, while subsequent reports put the total number of wounded at more than 40. Amnesty International later estimated that 46 people were injured. Hospitals in Jerusalem treated victims, including children. Shaare Zedek Medical Center reported that it was treating a four-year-old boy who was in moderate condition. Other victims were reported to have suffered serious or minor injuries.
The Israel Defense Forces said air-defense systems had been activated but failed to intercept the missile. The military estimated that the weapon carried a 500-kilogram warhead and said the circumstances surrounding the failed interception were under investigation by the Israeli Air Force. The Home Front Command also examined the condition of the shelter, while the military said its early-warning system had functioned as intended before the strike.
Early in the rescue operation, Jerusalem District Police Chief Avshalom Peled said most of those killed were believed to have been inside the public shelter. Later reporting was less definitive about the victims’ locations at the time of impact. The missile struck the shelter directly, highlighting the limitations of even reinforced civilian protection against a large ballistic-missile warhead.
Amnesty International later called for the strike to be investigated as a possible war crime. In an investigation published March 31, the organization said it found no apparent military objective in the immediate vicinity of the impact and concluded that the Iranian ballistic missile used in the attack was highly inaccurate. Israeli officials described the strike as part of Iran’s missile barrage against Israel, while Iran has characterized its attacks as retaliation within the broader conflict. The question of the attacker’s intent remains a matter of investigation and dispute.
Authorities identified the nine people killed as siblings Yaakov Biton, 16; Avigail Biton, 15; and Sarah Biton, 13; Gavriel Baruch Ravach, 16; Oren Katz, 46; Sara Elimelech, 67; Ronit Elimelech, 45; Bruria Cohen, 76; and Yosef (Yossi) Cohen, 41. Ronit Elimelech was a United Hatzalah volunteer. Her emergency medical equipment was reportedly recovered from the rubble, while her children survived the attack after being injured.
The nine fatalities matched the death toll from the deadliest single Iranian missile strike during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June 2025, when a missile struck an apartment building in Bat Yam. The Beit Shemesh attack occurred during a broader Iranian barrage in which most incoming missiles were intercepted, according to Israeli officials, but some projectiles penetrated the country’s air defenses.
In Beit Shemesh, investigators continued examining the failed interception, the performance of the public shelter, and the extent of the structural damage caused by the strike. For the families of those killed and injured, the wider conflict was reduced to funerals, hospital rooms, damaged homes, and a residential street transformed in seconds by a single missile impact.
