Israel censors reports of damage to military sites by Iranian missiles

Govt has claimed it shot down 90% of missiles fired on Tuesday but video evidence suggests most missiles got through

Footage of Iran’s barrage of around two hundred ballistic and hypersonic missiles at Israeli military facilities on Tuesday evening shows a majority of them hitting their targets, leading to large explosions on the ground. Despite the evidence, Israel’s military claimed to have shot down ninety percent.

However, Israel has closed off several military areas and banned Israeli media from publishing details of where the missiles hit, masking the extent of the damage from the strikes, while international media give conflicting information about the effectiveness of the barrage.

Many US media reported that only minor damage resulted, but the secrecy raises questions whether Israel is hiding a far larger impact on its military facilities and operations, including its Nevatim F-35 fighter airbas in the Negev Desert, which appeared to take large and repeated hits.

The attacks appear to have been targeted exclusively at military facilities, in sharp contrast to Israel’s repeated bombing of civilian areas in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has not admitted any deaths at the targeted bases, but have reported two injuries. A Palestinian was killed by shrapnel in the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank from a missile that Israel or UK/US planes did manage to intercept.

Iran has claimed that ninety percent of its missiles in the attack, which it said was its response to Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior Iranian military officers in an attack that killed hundreds of civilians in Beirut, reached their targets.

Israel has banned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres from entering its territory because it claims he has not ‘unequivocally condemned’ Iran’s retaliation. Tehran has said it will not launch further missiles unless forced to by Israeli aggression.

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