Mysterious Missile Remnant Found in West Bank Village Near Nablus

Palestinians gathered around the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed in the West Bank village of Kifl Haris on Tuesday, part of a wave of Iranian ordnance launched against Israel overnight as Tehran continues to suffer daily bombardments by the U.S. and Israel. Images from Kifl Haris, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, show missile fragments following the Iranian attack.

West Bank resident Hatem Daoud, who lives near the impact site, described the close call in stark terms. "Thank God, it passed safely, unlike what happened in Beit Awwa. Thank God it passed safely, the missile was 10 meters away from the house," he said. When Iran launches missiles at Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces' Home Front Command sends early warnings to a wide area where sirens could sound in a few minutes, activating alerts in any area determined to be at risk of getting hit by a missile, interceptor, or fragments from either. But Israel has never built public shelters in Palestinian areas governed by its military administration, leaving civilians with few protective options beyond those warnings.

The Kifl Haris strike came six days after an apparent cluster munition killed four women in the Hebron-area village of Beit Awwa, injuring nine others. They were the first West Bank Palestinians killed by Iran in the current war. WAFA, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, identified three of the women as Sahira, Amal, and Mais Masalma, ages 50, 36, and 17. A fourth woman, Aseel Masalma, 32, died the following day; she was six months pregnant. The four were struck while inside a bridal salon, preparing food for a traditional Ramadan nighttime meal.

Though directed at Israel, the deadliest such attacks have not been suffered by Israelis, but by West Bank Palestinians, who often find themselves in the path of Iran's imprecise weaponry and without the protections Israel affords its citizens. The Palestinian Interior Ministry said that between March 7 and March 12, teams from the Palestinian police, civil defense rescue units, and the Red Crescent responded to missile fragments that fell in the districts of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, and Salfit.

The conflict's origins trace to late February. Iran has launched missile and drone attacks across the region in response to the ongoing bombing campaign that the U.S. and Israel launched on the Islamic Republic on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its leadership and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Tehran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has snarled international shipping, sent fuel prices skyrocketing, and threatened the world economy.

Airstrikes battered Iran and Iranian missiles and drones targeted Israel's Tel Aviv and sites across the Mideast on Tuesday, even as President Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with the Islamic Republic to end the war. With thousands more U.S. Marines on their way to the Gulf, both sides continued firing barrages while Iran denied any negotiations were taking place.

At least 15 people have been killed in Israel since Israeli and U.S. forces launched their war against Tehran on February 28, igniting a regional conflict which has resulted in at least 1,444 people killed in Iran and 18,551 injured, according to the country's Ministry of Health. For Palestinians in the West Bank, the casualty figures carry a particular weight: with no shelters and no military defenses of their own, they are caught squarely in the crossfire of a war that neither side aimed at them.