Four days into the war with Iran, Israelis are shaken and upset, but they are still showing resilience, continuing to support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to confront a longtime enemy.
Netanyahu ordered a surprise attack on Iran early Friday, vowing to end Tehran's nuclear ambitions, which he says pose an existential threat to his country.
In response, Iran has fired nightly salvos of ballistic missiles that have caused destruction but also inspired defiance among some who have suffered damage, Reuters writes.
“We believe in God and Bibi Netanyahu,” said Suki Yoram, standing in front of a partially destroyed apartment block in the Petah Tikva neighborhood, east of Tel Aviv, which was hit by a missile overnight, killing four people.
"We are with you until the end, don't stop, keep going... We have no choice," he told Reuters.
Dozens of apartment buildings and other structures in central and northern Israel have been destroyed in waves of missiles since Friday, killing 24 people and injuring hundreds.
The severity and scale of the damage exceeded anything Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip or Hezbollah fighters from neighboring Lebanon have managed to inflict on Israel in decades of conflict, according to Reuters.
"It's very sad. And we don't want to lose people. But what can we do," said Adi Schindler (71) from Jerusalem.
Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that Iran wants to build nuclear weapons and use them against Israel, home to nearly half the world's Jewish population. Iran claims its nuclear program is exclusively civilian, but the Israelis believe otherwise.
"We have no choice. Better this way than having missiles, nuclear missiles, flying at us. Then we're all dead," says Schindler.
Israeli airstrikes have decimated Iran's nuclear and military leadership. According to an Iranian official, the death toll in Iran has reached at least 224, 90 percent of whom are civilians. Thousands of Tehran residents are fleeing their homes and stockpiling basic necessities for fear that the Israeli campaign will escalate in the coming days.
"I am desperate. My two children are scared and cannot sleep at night because of the sound of air defenses and attacks, explosions. But we have nowhere to go. We have hidden under the dining room table," Gholamreza Mohammadi, 48, a civil servant, told Reuters by phone from Tehran.
Netanyahu is deeply divided in Israel. Many blame him for failing to prevent the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, which triggered the brutal war in Gaza. Opposition politicians have accused him of prolonging the conflict to avoid responsibility for security failures in 2023. However, since the Israeli military launched a massive attack on Iran on June 13, political forces have united.
"When it comes to the security of the Israeli people in the face of the enemy, we are one people, with one mission. Our children will not live in fear of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Not today, not ever," said opposition leader Yair Lapid.
A poll released yesterday by researchers Agam Lab found that 70 percent of Israelis support an attack on Iran. Reuters reports that figure has risen to as high as 83 percent among the Jewish population. Only 16 percent of respondents were against the operation.
Still, the nightly rushes to shelters and the scenes of bombed homes shook the nerves.
When an Iranian missile, which usually carries between 300 and 700 kilograms of explosives, directly hits the densely populated coastline, the explosion is clearly heard 55 kilometers away, in Jerusalem.
A poll released yesterday by researchers at Agam Lab showed that 70 percent of Israelis support an attack on Iran.
In Tel Aviv, 31-year-old chef Gaido Tetelbaun stood on broken glass and rubble outside what was once his apartment.
"It's scary because we don't know what's coming," he said. "This could be the start of something long-lasting, or it could get worse, or hopefully better, but it's that uncertainty that's the scariest."
While there is widespread support for attacking Iran, not everyone supports the war - the biggest escalation of the conflict in the past 20 months, during which Israel has also waged wars against Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
“I don’t think anything good will come out of this,” said Ben Keller, an Israeli who is pursuing a PhD in the UK and is currently home to see family.
"I never really believed that Iran would use nuclear weapons. It's more of something that's used to threaten, but it's not actually going to be used."
Investors, however, as Reuters writes, apparently believe that the conflict could ultimately be good for Israel, betting that Netanyahu will win his military poker game and succeed in destroying Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The shekel strengthened more than three percent against the dollar yesterday, its biggest daily gain since at least 2008, while the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange recorded a two percent gain.
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