Iran’s latest missile strike on central Israel caused no reported injuries Friday night, but the attack renewed concern over Tehran’s use of dispersing warheads that can scatter smaller explosives across populated areas.
The bombs complicate air defenses, and leave civilians at risk even after the initial blast.
The barrage came shortly after 7:30 p.m. as Israelis observed Shabbat, with explosions reported across a roughly 10-mile stretch of central Israel.
In Shoham, near Ben Gurion Airport, an impact ignited the roof of an apartment building, sending smoke into the air. Other strikes damaged a motorway, cars, and a school.
This time, no one was reported hurt, largely because civilians reached safe rooms and shelters.
But the attack fit a pattern that has become more alarming as the war has deepened.
Earlier in the week, two construction workers, Amid Murtuzov and Rustam Golumov, were killed in Yehud after a missile split into several bombs over central Israel.
The danger lies not only in the dispersing warhead missile itself, but in what happens when it breaks apart.
The Telegraph reported that the warheads carried multiple bomblets, allowing explosives to fall over a wider area.
Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer quoted by the newspaper, said the effect was closer to a shotgun blast than a precision strike.
Ran Kochav, a former commander of Israel’s air and missile defense forces, said he would describe the weapons as dispersing warheads rather than cluster bombs, but said the damage could still be deadly.
The broader threat has sharpened as Israeli officials prepare the public for more incoming fire.
The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the Home Front Command would begin issuing more precise early alerts for ballistic missile attacks. The same live updates page reported that Israel expected the war with Iran to continue for at least three more weeks.
The legal picture is narrower than the rhetoric surrounding these weapons.
Cluster munitions are banned for states that joined the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the treaty does not create a universal prohibition binding every country.
The convention itself prohibits the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions by its states parties.
The humanitarian concern is broader.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said cluster munitions scatter explosive submunitions over a wide area and have caused large numbers of civilian deaths and injuries, while unexploded bomblets can continue to endanger people long after an attack.
As Israeli authorities refined warning systems and braced for further barrages, the risk extended beyond the moment of impact.
Each unexploded bomblet left behind the possibility that a street, parking lot, or residential block could remain dangerous long after the sirens stopped.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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