Tamra, Israel
CNN
—
In a small, tight-knit town near Haifa in northern Israel, residents here never thought they would experience such horror.
Inhabited by Palestinian citizens of Israel, Tamra was left shaken after an Iranian missile struck a residential building late Saturday evening, killing four civilians, Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported.
The rocket struck a home belonging to the Khatib family at around 11:50pm, according to emergency responders. Manar Khatib, a local teacher, and her two daughters Shatha, 13, and Hala, 20, as well their relative Manar Diab were all killed instantly.
Manar’s husband Raja and their youngest daughter Razan both survived.
Over the last 20 months of war, rockets have occasionally been launched from across Lebanon’s border into northern Israel. But Tamra has never taken a hit like this – until hostilities with Iran erupted into direct strikes between the two countries this week.
The morning after, the mood in the Lower Galilee town was somber, compounded by anger over a lack of adequate bomb shelters, an issue that Palestinian citizens of Israel have long warned was a glaring inequality that exists throughout their communities.
The street where the missile landed was filled with bulldozers trying to clear the debris. Many cars were burned from the impact, with glass shattered all around. Residents and volunteers gathered around to offer support and condolences. The buildings next to the Khatib home had sustained some damage, and almost every home had its windows blown out.
“When we heard the strike, everyone in the village headed there to help. It was a very difficult and chaotic evening. We found body parts littered across the street, and very tragic sights we didn’t want to see,” Mohammad Diab, an emergency rescue volunteer told CNN.
Diab said it was difficult to reach the family because of the intensity of the impact. Emergency responders searched for survivors trapped under the “heavy destruction” of the three-story building.
For 25-year-old neighbor Mohammad Shama, Saturday night was “terrifying”.
“As soon as the escalations began with Iran, we knew the situation would be dangerous, but we didn’t think the danger would come this close to us,” he told CNN.
He rushed to his neighbors’ home as soon as he heard the blast and tried to help retrieve the bodies. The only reason the Khatib family’s youngest daughter survived was because she was sleeping in the room the house uses as a shelter, he said.
But not every home in Tamra even has a shelter.
Only 40% of Tamra’s 37,000 residents have either a safe room or a functioning shelter, the town’s mayor Musa Abu Rumi told CNN. And there are no bunkers or public shelters which are otherwise ubiquitous across most Israeli towns and cities.
In the wake of the attack, his municipality decided to open up educational facilities in Tamra to be used as shelters for whoever didn’t feel safe sleeping at home.
“The government has never financed the construction of shelters in our town, because they have other priorities,” he said.
Several government ministers have visited Tamra in the wake of the attack, and Abu Rumi said others are planning to visit in the coming week. He told CNN he wants to take advantage of that to raise the issue of neglect in Tamra, and “bridging the gap between Jewish Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel”.
The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), an independent research center published a report in the wake of the Tamra attack, describing how “Arab communities remain unaddressed” almost two years since the outbreak of war. The report points to the “significant gaps in protection” between Arab and Jewish communities.
Civil defense capabilities are built into the infrastructure of Israel. Israeli law requires all homes, residential buildings, and industrial building built since the early 1990s to have bomb shelters. These shelters prove crucial to protect Israelis when warning sirens go off – providing the public with safe and fortified locations to hide from incoming rockets.
However, many Palestinian towns in the country’s north “lack public shelters, protected areas, and shelter facilities,” according to a statement from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
“The urgency in providing such a response gains secondary validity in light of the fact that the main disparity in the field of defense in the northern district is within Arab towns,” the statement continued.
Local resident Shama conceded that there is neglect in Tamra and said he suspects it’s because of racism.
In many ways, the Tamra strike has highlighted not just the tragedies of this war, but also increasingly embittered fault lines and divisions in Israeli society and governance.
In a neighboring town called Mitzpe Aviv, social media video verified by CNN showed Jewish Israelis rejoicing over the rockets raining down on Tamra this weekend, shouting “may your village burn!”
Knesset member Dr. Ahmad Tibi told CNN scenes like that were the “result of the culture of racism that has spread in Israeli society and the escalating fascism.”
Another Knesset member, Naama Lazimi, condemned the video on X, writing; “shame and disgust.” On the lack of shelters, Lazimi added that “this is an even greater shame because this is a state with racist and abandoning policies.”
Tamra resident Nejmi Hijazi also lamented the video, telling CNN “in your own country, you are treated as a stranger, even as an enemy, even in your blood and in your death.”
Social media videos showing Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem hailing Iran’s attacks on Tel Aviv have also circulated.
One resident was apprehended and taken in for questioning, according to Jerusalem District Police – a move that national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir applauded, warning that “anyone who celebrates with the enemy will be punished!”
As the threat of more strikes continues to fuel fears in Israel, the residents of Tamra are left feeling anxious.
“Last night was one of the most difficult nights I have ever experienced. I can’t forget the image of the little girl I saw trapped under the rubble,” Manal Hijazi, a neighbor told CNN.
Hijazi described the Khatibs as some of the nicest and most loving people in the neighborhood. Manar had taught most residents in Tamra.
One of her former students is Raghda, a neighbor whose house was also damaged by the Saturday blast.
“I was in bed with my three daughters when the rocket struck. The window blasted open and I got hit by dust and rocket remnants. That happened all in front of my eyes, with my daughters right next to me,” Raghda told CNN, teary and shaking.
Raghda described the horror she felt cradling her 4-month-old daughter throughout the attack. She said her daughters were shocked and remained silent for many hours.
“There is no way I will be sleeping at home tonight,” she said.
CNN’s Dana Karni contributed to this report.
