It took a heavy toll': Israeli families mourn after deadly Iranian attack

"Even when you were in trouble, you would say give, and that giving cost you your life, his wife, Samadi, said in a tribute at his funeral. You went upstairs to close the shelter and it took a heavy toll. I can't digest it."

"Even with the very severe impact that was here, and the price that was paid in this attack, the vast majority of people that were in the bomb shelter came out of it alive. In the bomb shelter there were over 30 people, two are dead, one is injured and 28 people came out alive."

"The force of the explosion entirely destroyed a synagogue that had stood over the shelter and left the thick, protective roof caved in. Astonishingly much of the structure withstood the force of the blast, despite its age and the intensity of the strike."

A direct Iranian missile hit a public bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh on Sunday afternoon, killing nine people including four teenage children. Oren Katz, a father of four, died while attempting to close the reinforced shelter door to protect the 30 people inside. The Biton family lost three children: Sarah (13), Avigail (15), and Yaakov (16). Another victim was 16-year-old Gabriel Baruch Revah. Despite the intensity of the strike, the shelter's structure largely withstood the blast, with 28 of the 30 people inside surviving. Seven additional people were killed outside the shelter. This represented the deadliest attack Israel sustained since joining US operations against Iran.

Read at www.theguardian.com