At least four members of a Christian Arab Israeli family were killed in an Iranian missile attack late Saturday night. The Iranian missile hit a private, two-story home just after 11:00 PM in the Arab Israeli town of Tamra, outside of Haifa, in northern Israel. At least four people were killed and ten wounded in the missile attack.
“This was a direct hit on a residential building. Sadly, four women from the same family were pronounced dead at the scene. We also treated several nearby residents suffering from acute anxiety,” said United Hatzalah EMTs Majdoub Mohammad and Ofer Levi, who responded to the incident in Tamra.
The victims were identified as members of the Khatib (or al-Khatib) family, including a mother, Manar Khatib, 47, her daughters Hala, 20, and Shada, 13, and another female relative in her 40s, Manar Diab Khatib.
Arab American blogger Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib reported that a fifth member of the family was also fatally injured in the attack, though this claim has not been independently verified.
In 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was almost entirely Arab (99.6% Muslim). In 2019, two Israeli-Arab residents of Tamra were arrested for allegedly planning an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack. In January 2024, an Arab from Tamra carried out a ramming attack at a naval base in Haifa.
