The most devastating moment of Iran’s ceasefire betrayal came at 5:30 a.m., when a ballistic missile fired from western Iran slammed directly into a residential high-rise in Beersheva, killing at least seven civilians and wounding over thirty in the deadliest single strike on Israeli soil since the war began.

The missile—believed to be a Shahab-class weapon with a conventional warhead—punched through the top floors of the 13-story building in the Neot Lon neighborhood, igniting a massive blaze and causing partial structural collapse. Families had been sleeping when the blast tore through bedrooms and kitchens, reducing the upper three floors to twisted metal and shattered concrete.

Among the dead were a young mother and her two children, aged four and six. Many of the injured suffered from burns, smoke inhalation, and trauma caused by flying debris. A gas line explosion in the aftermath injured two first responders.

“We woke up to the sound of glass exploding and the building shaking like an earthquake,” said resident Yael Bar-David, who escaped with her 8-month-old baby. “There was fire everywhere, screaming… we thought it was the end.”

The Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva treated dozens of casualties. Dr. Moti Ben-Sasson, head of Emergency Medicine, described the scene: “We received entire families—burned, bruised, terrified. This was not an accident of war. This was a direct hit on a civilian population.”

The missile strike overwhelmed Israel’s air defenses during a window of mass saturation. Iranian forces reportedly launched decoy drones and multiple rocket salvos across different regions to draw off interceptors, creating a vulnerability that allowed the Beersheva missile to slip through.

“It was a calculated tactic,” said IDF Southern Command sources. “They knew Iron Dome would be engaged elsewhere. This was a premeditated strike designed to maximize civilian casualties.”

The attack has triggered widespread outrage in Israel. Foreign Minister Israel Katz vowed fierce and swift retaliation: “This blood is on the hands of Tehran. They signed a ceasefire and broke it with the murder of children. Iran will pay. We will respond not in words, but in fire.”

As search-and-rescue teams continued combing the upper floors, chants of “Am Yisrael Chai” echoed from neighbors and volunteers below. The building, once a typical residential block, now stands as a charred symbol of Iran’s deceit and Israel’s resolve.

As dawn broke over the still-smoking Beersheva skyline, one resident—a grandmother standing barefoot, wrapped in an emergency blanket—summed up the national mood: “They wanted to break us while we slept. But now we are wide awake.”