JERUSALEM (AP) — Tamar Biton was in the kitchen when an explosion rocked her home in the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, shattering the windows and collapsing the ceiling with a boom louder than anything she had ever heard.
Making her way to what was left of a window, she saw fire and destruction everywhere, she said.
“I couldn’t find my kids, but I was sure they would be able to rescue them from underneath the rubble,” she said.
That was not to be. It took 24 hours to identify the bodies of three of her four children: Yaakov, about to celebrate his 17th birthday that evening; Avigail, 15; and Sarah, 13.
They were among nine people killed Sunday when an Iranian missile strike demolished a synagogue and homes in Beit Shemesh. Israel’s rescue services said 65 people were hospitalized in the attack, including two seriously wounded.
It was the deadliest attack on Israel, where 11 people have died, since the war began Saturday with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. The conflict has escalated each day, affecting an additional 14 countries across the Middle East and beyond. At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran and more than 100 in Lebanon.
Tamar Biton, husband Yitzhak and their surviving daughter, 4-year-old Rachel, are observing the Jewish week of mourning in a Jerusalem hotel where they were placed after their house was destroyed.
Neighbors and friends grieve together
For hours on end, as neig …