Israel says 21 people wounded as Iran fires dozens of missiles following U.S. strikes on nuclear facilities

Tel Aviv, Israel — Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel on Friday morning, wounding at least 21 people — four of them seriously, paramedics said — after the U.S. joined Israel’s week-long attacks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites.

Iranian missiles made impacts in four sites across Israel: in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Be’er Yaakov and Nes Ziona, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response service.

Searches were underway for people believed to be trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in Tel Aviv, local media reported.

The Israel Defense Forces told CBS News that Iran had launched about 30 missiles at Israel.

Images circulating on both Israeli television and social media platforms showed serious damage to buildings, as well as injured people being rescued by first responders.

The IDF said in a statement that during the missile barrage, no alert sirens had gone off in Haifa, despite there having been an impact from a missile there.

“The possibility that there was an issue with the interceptor is being looked into,” the IDF said, referring to its missile defense systems.  “There was no malfunction in the alert system and a previous warning had been issued to the area.”

The Iranian assault took place hours after President Trump announced that the U.S. military had carried out strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites, Isfahan and Natanz, and the well-fortified Fordo enrichment facility.

The U.S. used three B2 bombers carrying two bunker-busting bombs each to attack Fordo. It struck Isfahan and Natanz, which had already been heavily bombed by Iran in previous days, with Tomahawk missiles launched by submarines.

Since the beginning of Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” against Iran, its National Public Diplomacy Directorate says Iran has fired over 450 missiles at Israel, and 400 drones. 24 people in Israel have been killed in Israel, all of them in the early days of Iran’s retaliatory attacks last week.

As of Friday, the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists in Iran, which relies on a network of contacts in the country, said 722 people had been killed in the country by Israel’s strikes, with the attacks hitting 25 of the Islamic Republic’s 31 provinces.