Balina Ashkenazi, 94, from Bat Yam, is one of eight people killed when an Iranian missile struck a residential building in the city between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Her husband and son were injured in the attack and are currently hospitalized at Ichilov Medical Center. Rescue teams continue to search the site, as not all trapped individuals have been accounted for.
Her granddaughter, Shani Buana, told Ynet: “Their apartment didn’t have a reinforced security room. There is a shelter in the building, but both my grandparents are dependent on care. My grandfather is 100 years old and uses a walker. My grandmother, who was 90, couldn’t walk at all. She had also suffered from dementia in recent years and was confined to a nursing bed in the living room.”
“It wasn’t possible to bring them down to the shelter every time there was a siren. I believe that’s also why my uncle didn’t evacuate—out of solidarity. He couldn’t run to the shelter and leave his parents behind unprotected.”
On Sunday night, the Bat Yam Municipality announced that 44-year-old city resident Efrat Saranga was also killed in the missile strike. The names of the other victims have yet to be released, but Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that five of the deceased held Ukrainian citizenship.
The IDF Home Front Command confirmed that the missile was a direct hit and weighed several hundred kilograms. The building was equipped with reinforced rooms on each floor and an underground shelter. All those who were inside secure areas at the time survived unharmed. The fatalities and injuries occurred outside those protected spaces.
Magen David Adom (MDA) reported treating 180 wounded at the scene—four in serious condition, seven moderately injured, and 88 lightly hurt. The wounded were transported to Wolfson, Ichilov, Sheba Tel Hashomer, Kaplan, Shamir-Assaf Harofeh, Beilinson, and Assuta Ashdod hospitals.