A day after a direct rocket hit struck the heart of Arad, the scale of destruction and the dramatic moments of evacuating the wounded are coming into focus. Three residential buildings have already been slated for demolition due to severe damage.
Sa’ar Shachori, the first ambulance driver to reach the scene moments after the explosion, described what he saw: “We heard the explosion when we were at the station and immediately rushed here. When we arrived, we saw an extremely complex scene—crowded, massive destruction, and an active fire. Many people were running toward us to get treatment. Parents were running to us with children in their arms. We tried to understand the urgency level of the patients and started evacuating the wounded accordingly.”
Despite the devastating images of destroyed buildings, Shachori calls the outcome a “visible miracle.” Most of the wounded, he said, suffered only minor injuries. “These were injuries typical of blast waves—shrapnel and glass. Anyone who was inside the protected spaces came out unharmed. The safe rooms simply saved lives.”
One case illustrates the force of the blast: a young child on his way to the safe room fell down the stairs from the explosion’s force but miraculously escaped uninjured.
Rescue forces in Arad and across the Negev remain on full alert. Shachori notes that since the war began, all teams are trained for immediate deployment to any scene. “We’re deployed to almost every scene with every siren. The moment we heard the explosion, we all left our homes, quickly assembled forces, and understood the scope of the incident.”
As of the latest update, 88 people were wounded in Arad: 10 seriously injured, 19 moderately injured, 55 lightly injured, and 4 suffering from shock. Among the seriously wounded was a 4-year-old girl who was pulled from under concrete.