Netanyahu calls Haifa mayor after deadly missile strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday with Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, conveying his “deep sorrow over the tragic loss of four lives” in an Iranian missile attack that targeted the city the previous night.

“The most important point that came up again in our conversation is one simple principle, an iron rule: Anyone who follows the guidelines of the [Israel Defense Forces] Home Front Command and stays in a protected space has almost no chance of being harmed,” Netanyahu said in a video statement following the call.

“I ask you, all citizens of Israel—and especially, residents of the north, who are truly going through a very difficult ordeal right now, and I know how hard it is for you—I ask you: We’ll help in every way we can. I request from you to adhere to the Home Front Command’s instructions,” he continued.

During the conversation, Yahav “requested several things,” Netanyahu said, adding that he instructed his office “to provide as much assistance as possible to the families as well as to the municipality.”

Following overnight efforts with the IDF Home Front Command, “two trapped individuals who were found under the rubble without signs of life” at the scene in Haifa, the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority said early on Monday.

On Monday afternoon, the remains of the two additional missing persons were recovered, the Magen David Adom medical response group said, identifying the slain victims as a man and a woman in their 80s; a man in his 40s; and a woman in her mid-30s.

Eleven people were wounded in the attacks targeting the Haifa area on Sunday, including an 82-year-old man with injuries from a “heavy object” and a blast injury, according to the Israel Ministry of Health and Magen David Adom.

Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center announced on Monday morning that the condition of the 82-year-old remained serious following overnight surgery.

“He is sedated and on a ventilator,” a hospital spokesperson said in a statement. “His 78-year-old wife is hospitalized, conscious, in the trauma intensive-care unit. Her condition is satisfactory.”