Exclusive
LUCKY ESCAPE
Israeli mum reveals her family cheated death ‘by one second’ as Hezbollah rocket broke through roof of home in blitz
Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah swore the attack was only 'phase one' of its master plan against Israel
AN ISRAELI mum told how her family cheated death “by one second” as a Hezbollah rocket thundered through the roof of their home.
Anava Nidam, 38, hurried her four children into a shelter and shut the steel door an instant before the missiles blasted through their house’s concrete room.
13
13
13
13
13
13
Shrapnel and flying glass showered into the building as the family screamed in terror but Anava and children Shoham, 16, Hoshen, 15, Noa, 12, and eight-year-old Omer were unhurt.
Anava moved into the home three miles from the Lebanese border from the village of Zarit, which is even closer to the border while her husband Avihai, 43, was fighting in Gaza.
But she is now homeless again and pleading to be moved further south to escape the daily terror of the cross-border rocket attacks.
Cake decorator Anava told The Sun: “I heard explosions in the distance so I rushed the children straight into the shelter and literally one second later, the rocket hit.
more on Middle east tinderbox
“It blasted right through the concrete roof spraying glass and shrapnel everywhere but somehow, we survived.
“An inflatable paddling pool in the garden where the children had been playing hours earlier was torn to pieces and they were left screaming in terror.
“They were due to start back at school in September but that won’t happen now - Hezbollah must be pushed back because it’s impossible to live like this.
“The north of Israel has become a no-go area.”
Most read in The Sun
Anava was being comforted by her mum Adva, 56, as the deafening boom of outgoing Israeli artillery fire filled the air in Manot’s largely abandoned streets.
Adva said: “Even outgoing fire can be scary if you’re not used to it - if you hear a bang and a whoosh you know it's ours and you’re safe.
Hezbollah may launch October 7-style attack on Israel any minute after air strikes as Israelis prepare for all-out-war
“But if you hear the whoosh first you know they’re trying to kill us and it’s terrifying - we can’t live here any more.”
The Sun’s team arrived in Manot amid soaring tension and dived for cover as a huge bang erupted next to the rocketed home.
But locals explained that the ear-splitting noise was outgoing fire into Lebanon from a hidden artillery battery yards away.
They added ruefully that they were experiencing the daily sights and sounds of their life next to the intensifying war with Hezbollah.
HEZBOLLAH AGAINST ISRAEL
It comes as Hezbollah launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel in a bid to avenge the killing of one of its founders and top commanders in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.
The dangerous Iran-backed terror group aimed to fire thousands of rockets towards the north and central Tel Aviv, Israel claims, but was only able to launch a few hundred missiles after IDF strikes thwarted its plans.
Israeli jets obliterated thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in “pre-emptive” strikes.
Thousands of launch tubes pointing towards Israel, including at southern Tel Aviv and the HQ of MI5 equivalent Mossad, were destroyed.
Israeli Defence Force (IDF) chiefs ordered the blitz at around 4.30am local time after detecting preparations for a huge attack from the Lebanon-based terror group.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said 100 fighter jets struck over 40 launch areas in southern Lebanon in an "act of self-defence".
Its Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defences were reported to have taken out all threats to populated areas and many projectiles landed harmlessly in open ground.
IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said: "This is part of a larger attack that was planned, and we were able to thwart a big part of it this morning."
Israel estimates the group was able to fire only 250 drones and missiles towards the north with "very little" damage after the pre-emptive strikes.
Hezbollah claimed to have hit 11 Israeli military targets, while the IDF revealed a naval soldier was killed and two others were injured in combat in northern Israel on Sunday.
Flights were axed to and from Israel's primary Ben Gurion airport as the chaos unfolded - although they have since resumed.
Israel warned civilians near Hezbollah launch sites to seek shelter as the barrage got underway before dawn.
Terror group commanders are believed to have deliberately sited launchers next to homes to use families as human shields against air attacks.
13
13
13
13
Israel has engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Hamas-allied Hezbollah for 10 months since war broke out in the Gaza Strip.
But yesterday’s attacks were the biggest escalation launched by the group since last year’s October 7 attacks from Gaza and sent tensions skyrocketing in Israel.
It threatens to trigger an all-out war which could draw in the United States, Iran and militant groups across the region.
Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah swore the operation was only “phase one” of its master plan to avenge the assassination of its commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut last month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel's pre-emptive strikes are "not the end".
He said: "Three weeks ago we eliminated his chief of staff, and today we foiled his attack plan.
"Nasrallah in Beirut [Hezbollah leader] and Khamenei in Tehran [supreme leader of Iran] should know that this is another step on the path to changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes.
"And I repeat - this is not the end of the verse."
The Sun warned only days ago that Hezbollah was planning to launch a huge attack on Israel.
Analysts monitoring years of military activity in southern Lebanon warned that October 7 could soon look “like a picnic” if and when the terrorists decided to unleash hell.
Experts told The Sun how civilians in Lebanon could end up paying the price for a fresh war in the Middle East - just as tens of thousands have in Gaza.
The Lebanon health ministry has said three people were killed in the strikes fired from Israel overnight.
They said one was killed by an "Israeli drone strike on a car in the village of Khiam" and "the Israeli occupation attack on the village of Tiri" killed two.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The Amal group - an ally of Hezbollah - later said a militant from Khiam had been killed.
It was not clear whether the other two were civilians or militants.
Recent tensions in the Middle East
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
After almost 10 months of war in Gaza, tensions hit an all new high following a series of deadly strikes and high-profile assassinations by Israel in late July and early August.
On Saturday July 27, a rocket strike fired from southern Lebanon hit a football pitch in Golan Heights - a Druze village occupied by Israel - killing 12 young people including children.
Israel and the US both said Hezbollah, the largest of Iran’s terror proxy groups, operating out of Lebanon, was responsible for the deadly strike.
On Monday, July 28, the IDF dropped an airstrike on an area of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, killing Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fuad Shukr.
Less than two days later, at around 2am on Wednesday, July 30, Israel killed Hamas’ top political leader Ismail Haniyeh as he slept in Iran’s capital Tehran.
On the morning of Thursday, August 1 morning, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced that a strike on Khan Younis, southern Gaza, had killed Mohammed Deif on July 13.
Dief had worked as head of Hamas' ruthless military wing, the al-Qassam brigades, since 2002.
It marked another major loss for Iran’s terror proxy groups in the region.
Early reports suggested Ismail Haniyeh was taken out in a precision strike when a rocket was fired from a drone outside his window and detonated inside the room.
Then an investigation by the New York Times suggested a bomb had been planted in his room at the military-run compound where he was staying and detonated remotely.
Unnamed Iranian officials also shared the explosive theory with The Telegraph, further confusing the murky details around Haniyeh’s death.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), concluded its investigation into the humiliating security breach on Saturday, August 1 and said he died after a “short-range projectile” was fired from outside the building.
Iran and its proxy groups; Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen all vowed to seek revenge on Israel over the assassination of Haniyeh.
Then, on the night of Saturday, August 3, Hezbollah fired some 30 rockets from Lebanon towards Galilee in northern Israel.
Tel Aviv’s impressive Iron Dome Defence system launched into action, destroying “most” of the missiles and no one was hurt.
But the UK, US and France have all urged their citizens to evacuate from Lebanon as fears of a wider war breaking out in the region continue to spiral.
13
13
13
Topics