November 29, 2024
Insurance claims made in Israel show Iran’s missile barrage on October 1 did more damage than initially reported to private residences and businesses. Israel’s tax authority said it received 2,500 claims for damage in the two weeks after the attack.
About 2,200 were for damage to buildings, with the remainder involving vehicles. More than half were in north Tel Aviv, while claims for damage to 100 homes were filed in the town of Hod HaSharon, where a crater shows a missile hit.
Another concentration of claims came from a commercial and residential complex on the coast north of Tel Aviv. And a fourth batch came from south of Tel Aviv, where a missile crater can be seen adjacent to a school. The reports do not indicate what damage was done by exploding missiles and what damage was caused by debris falling out of the sky when Israeli defenses impacted an incoming Iranian missile.
The claims were also only for private property and thus provide no further information about the extent of damage to the three air bases that Israel has acknowledged were targeted.
The tax authority said the claims total up to 200 million shekels ($53 million), which means the average claim is for $21,000. Only one person was killed in the barrage an Arab on the West Bank who was crushed by a missile falling out of the sky after it was hit by an Israeli antimissile.
Iran continues to claim that 90 percent of the 181 missiles that Israel counted heading its way got through Israeli defenses. That is clearly not true, but the total number that got through is not yet known. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said “the Zionists censored the news” that 90 percent got through.
But it cannot censor what Israeli reporters can see on the ground. Israel does not allow reporters onto the air bases that were hit, but satellite photos show no significant damage. The satellite photos of Nevatim Air Base, the main target, show at least 32 impact pointseither missile hits or falling debris. Only six of those impacts were on buildings.
The other 26 were strikes on easy-torepair roads and taxiways or out in the desert sands where no repair is required. In Tehran, the Fars news agency said an “informed source” reported that three Israeli F-35 fighter jets were destroyed on the ground. Israel said no planes were destroyed or even damaged.
It is widely assumed that when the attack was anticipated all the planes that were not in maintenance were launched to prevent damage. But if three planes were indeed destroyed, it would be a sorry result for the barrage. Iran said it launched about 200 missiles; Israel said it counted 181.