At about 2pm today, with no prior warning*, the air raid siren went off. My wife and I were in our security room within a minute; I had just shut the door when there was a terrific boom and a shock wave that seemed to shake the entire building.
Shortly after, we were informed that a ballistic missile had landed in Bet Shemesh and killed 9 people: a direct hit on a synagogue with an air raid shelter below. Nothing can withstand a missile coming from the upper atmosphere with a 500 kg warhead.
Even though that missile landed 4-5 kilometres away from where we are, we felt it as if it were next door. Unsurprisingly, many houses in the vicinity of where the missile fell have been damaged from the shock waves.
Bet Shemesh can hardly be considered a strategic target, although it is quite possible that the missile was aimed at an air force base maybe 10 km from where the missile fell, but because of poor guidance (or poor intelligence) the missile missed its target.
Until now, this operation and the 12 day war that preceeded it had seemed remote, impersonal and detached from our day to day existance. It's even been a little fun, having days off from work and social encounters that don't happen too often. But today has changed all that: it has brought the war almost to my doorstep.
* Normally a warning is sent out about ten minutes in advance that a missile launch has been detected, but I don't recall receiving such a warning before this event. Often there's a warning with no siren afterwards because the missile's trajectory has been computed more accurately and it's more clear when the missile is not going to land.
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