"Very difficult to stop": The BBC visits the location where Iran used cluster bombs to attack Israel.

 

Most people in the neighbourhood took cover in their safe rooms as the cluster bomb hit (Getty Images)

An Iranian cluster bomb exploded in the minuscule living room of an elderly couple's apartment in central Israel late at night, killing both of them. The path of the bomb was still clearly mapped onto the ash-covered debris left behind.  Broken concrete and metal rods were forced into their apartment's interior through a large hole in the ceiling. The explosion destroyed the front of the apartment, leaving it open to the street outside, as evidenced by shrapnel holes running along the back walls. Inside, a walking frame lay upended on the floor under the ash-covered furniture and rubble.

Read More: Why did US and Israel attack Iran and how long could the war last?

 Sigal Amir, who lives next door and was hiding in her safe room when the explosion occurred, stated, "We heard three noisy interceptions, but on the fourth one, we knew it was our house." She stated, "There was a huge boom, and I felt a pain in my ear from the blast." "The neighbours live five metres from us – their door was blown off and their house was full of dust like snow."

 She said that one of the couple had mobility issues, so they weren't in the shelter when the bomb went off.

Israel has seen few deaths as a result of Iran's daily missile attacks, with most of them intercepted by air defenses. However, even if the missile carrying them is shot down, cluster bombs are much more difficult to defend against because they disperse over a large area. As the war has gone on, Iran has shifted to using more of them.

 During a visit to the location, Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani stated, "You can see the entry point of the rocket that flew all the way from Iran in a huge missile, and broke into dozens of pieces." "We had dozens of impact points like this in central Israel."

 He stated that Israel had successfully intercepted the cluster bomb-carrying missiles, which each contained 20 to 80 munitions and were "very difficult to stop." Another alert of approaching missiles sounded while we were there. The neighbour, Sigal, beckoned us into her safe room.

 There have been relatively few casualties from Iranian missiles in Israel.  Fourteen people have so far been killed directly by strikes, nine of them in one attack in Bet Shemesh in the early days of the war.

 Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana), based in the United States, reported on Tuesday that at least 1354 civilians and 1138 military personnel have been killed since the war began. The joint campaign against Iran by the United States and Israel is now in its 19th day and has destroyed military sites, oil facilities, and other infrastructure across the country. Israel's military says it has destroyed more than 70% of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, and that Iran's attacks against Israel are now weakening.

 Meanwhile, Israel's population is resilient, and support for the war still appears to be strong.

 However, some of this war-weary population is beginning to wonder when and how it will end due to the constant alarms that send Israelis into shelters throughout the day and night and the increasing use of cluster munitions.

Rescuers were seen combing through the wreckage of the cluster bomb strike overnight (Image: Getty Images)

As we sheltered in the safe room, Sigal said, "To be honest, in the last days I'm losing hope a little bit." "I believe there is no end, no direction, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel," We have to live with this, but I'm not sure how long it will last or where we'll end up. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, framed this war as the conclusion of a lengthy conflict with Israel's enemies in the region. He has basked in his nation's military might, claiming that the Middle East has already changed as a result of the current conflict and that Israel is now a regional and, in some ways, global power. But this is an asymmetric war, and Iran is pressing on US sensitives around oil prices, casualties and the vulnerability of its Gulf allies, to force an end to hostilities.

 It is believed that Israel's potential timetable for this conflict is longer than Washington's. After the assassination of Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, the Lebanese organization Hezbollah, a well-armed Iranian proxy on Israel's northern border, joined the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been displaced, and 912 killed in Israeli operations, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

 After directing the evacuation of a large portion of the country last week, Israeli ground forces expanded their operations in southern Lebanon this week. However, it is said that the United States is already looking into a deal with the Lebanese government to calm things down. Netanyahu sees this as an excellent opportunity to combat Iran's regional network "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States. He's been assured that the war will bring about lasting change. But the pressures on his superpower ally are growing, and each fatal missile strike makes it harder to declare victory at home.

Source: BBC