JERUSALEM — Iranian missile barrages that followed U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 10 people in Israel, including nine in Beit Shemesh, and sent residents across the country scrambling into shelters since Saturday, Feb. 28. Israeli officials said the salvos tested the country’s multilayer air defenses — often labeled simply as the Iron Dome — as Tehran retaliated for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, March 3, 2026.
Israel’s ambulance service said nine people were killed in Beit Shemesh, a city west of Jerusalem, after a missile strike hit a residential area, Reuters reported.
Separately, Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being injured in an Iranian missile attack, The Associated Press reported.
Images from the first days of the strikes showed burning vehicles, impact craters and funerals interrupted by air-raid sirens as interceptions lit the sky, according to a Reuters photo collection.
Iron Dome breach highlights gaps in Israel’s air defenses
The popular “Iron Dome” label is both accurate and misleading. Iron Dome is a real, widely deployed system built to shoot down short-range rockets and some drones, but Israel’s defense is an integrated network that also relies on other interceptors designed for faster, longer-range threats.
That distinction matters when Iran launches ballistic missiles. Those weapons descend at high speed and can stress even advanced defenses, especially during large salvos. Israeli officials have repeatedly emphasized that the system is designed to reduce damage and casualties — not eliminate risk.
An AP explainer published during an earlier Iran-to-Israel barrage described how the defense is layered: Arrow for long-range ballistic missiles, David’s Sling for medium-range threats, Patriot for aircraft and some drones, and Iron Dome for short-range rockets, AP reported in April 2024.
Military analysts say the outcome of any mass launch can hinge on timing, the number of projectiles arriving at once, where they are headed, and whether the defender has enough interceptors positioned in the right place — factors that can allow a small number of missiles to slip through even when most are stopped.
Deaths in Beit Shemesh underscore the human cost of “leakers”
The Beit Shemesh strike was the deadliest single incident reported in Israel since Iran’s retaliatory launches began, with emergency crews searching rubble and residents reporting damage across a residential compound.
In a separate burst of violence in central Israel, the reported death in the Tel Aviv area added to a growing casualty count and deepened public anxiety as sirens and nighttime interceptions became routine.
Iran’s leaders have framed the strikes as a response to the U.S.-Israeli campaign that killed Khamenei and other senior figures. Iranian officials have also warned that Tehran would not limit its response as long as attacks continue.
Israel signals a longer fight — and more missile fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued the campaign is necessary to remove what Israel calls an existential threat from Iran’s missile and nuclear programs. In a U.S. television interview, Netanyahu said the war may take “some time” but “not years,” Reuters reported.
That timeline — and the prospect of repeated barrages — is central to the fear inside Israel: that even with strong defenses, each additional wave creates another chance for a missile to hit a populated area.
A system tested for years, now facing its toughest challenge
Israel began deploying Iron Dome more than a decade ago, and even at its launch officials cautioned against the idea of a flawless shield. When the system was first rolled out in 2011, Netanyahu warned it would not provide a “full or comprehensive response,” Al Jazeera reported at the time.
In subsequent wars and flare-ups, Israel has frequently highlighted high interception rates. During fighting with militants in Gaza in 2014, Israel said Iron Dome had intercepted about 90% of rockets it engaged, Reuters reported then.
But those earlier tests largely involved short-range rockets, not sustained exchanges with a state military capable of launching longer-range missiles in large numbers. The current war, with repeated salvos and a wide regional footprint, is forcing Israel and its allies to confront a harsher reality: advanced defenses can blunt an attack, but they cannot guarantee zero casualties.
For civilians in Israel, that distinction is measured in minutes — the time between a siren and an impact — and in the grim aftermath when a single missile that “gets through” turns a neighborhood into a rescue scene.
