DAY 442 OF THE WAR: Houthi Missile Hits Tel Aviv After Failed Intercept, Eleven lightly wounded; Day 442 and 100 Hostages Remain Captives of Hamas in Gaza

Tel Aviv Diary, December 21, 2024

Over the course of this war, Shabbat has seldom been a quiet day in Israel. In the early hours this morning, at approximately 3:38 AM, air raid alarms shattered the silence. Although the blaring siren was no real surprise, my body was hardly prepared to be jolted awake from deep sleep. It took me several crucial seconds to drag myself out of bed and dash out of the room. My wife and I left our room together, yelling for our son to make sure he was getting up, while also securing our dog in his harness to go out. For whatever reason, he was more uncooperative than usual.

We have a friend who arrived from the United States yesterday morning and is staying with us for the weekend. Just before I had gone to bed, I realized I hadn’t spoken to our guest and warned him about what might happen. As we yelled out to him that we needed to head to the shelter, he said he was coming, but was unprepared for the immediacy of the need to leave the apartment. While rushing downstairs, I realized that this time, I hadn’t mismatched my footwear—I had forgotten entirely to wear any at all.

As we approached the shelter, we heard the sound of an explosion echo in the distance. Once inside, we encountered several very bleary-eyed children, and neighbors who had already gathered there. We waited for nearly 10 minutes before wearily trudging back upstairs to attempt to sleep again.

In the morning, we learned that the missile — which had not been intercepted— had landed in Jaffa (southern Tel Aviv), in a small park. Eleven people sustained light injuries from glass shards and other related debris. The military announced that two attempts had been made to intercept the missile: the first outside the atmosphere and the second as the missile approached its target. Unfortunately, both attempts failed.

While the investigation into the incident is still ongoing, the military has stated that preliminary conclusions have been reached and modifications will be made to both the interception methods and the warning system. The warning times were too short during the last two incidents (Thursday morning and this morning). As I mentioned earlier, we heard the impact while we were still heading to the shelter.

The pressing question remains: what measures can be taken against the Houthis? Our attacks on them have failed to deter them, and we anticipate more assaults in the coming days. The Saudis fought the Houthis for two years without stopping their attacks. Moreover, neither the U.S. nor its allies have succeeded in breaking their naval blockade. Thankfully in the recent attacks, thus far, the damage has been limited, and there have been no severe injuries. However, should the Houthis continue firing missiles and one gets through our defenses, we might not always be so fortunate.

Waking all of us in the middle of the night isn’t likely to help increase Israeli productivity either. Another significant issue is that as long as these attacks persist, the chances of convincing additional airlines to return to Israel remain slim. Our current situation—with only El Al and a handful of airlines flying, and none offering transatlantic routes other than El Al—is damaging both our economy and our national morale.

Tonight, the United States and its coalition partners staged attacks on missile storage facilities and command posts of the Houthis, focusing on the Yemeni capital of Sana.

100 HOSTAGES STILL IN GAZA— 442 DAYS AND COUNTING

1. Tamir Adar (38)

2. Muhammad Al-Atarash (39)

3. Hisham Al-Sayed (36)

4. Hamzah AlZayadni (23)

5. Yosef AlZayadni (53)

6. Liri Albag (19)

7. Edan Alexander (20)

8. Matan Angrest (20)

9. Karina Ariev (20)

10. Aviv Atzili (49)

11. Sahar Baruch (24)

12. Uriel Baruch (35)

13. Ohad Ben Ami (55)

14. Agam Berger (20)

15. Gali Berman (27)

16. Ziv Berman (27)

17. Ariel Bibas (5)

18. Kfir Bibas (1.5)

19. Shiri Bibas (33)

20. Yarden Bibas (35)

21. Elkana Bohbot (35)

22. Rom Braslavski (21)

23. Itay Chen (19)

24. Sagui Dekel Chen (36)

25. Eliya Cohen (27)

26. Nimrod Cohen (20)

27. Amiram Cooper (85)

28. Bar Cooperstein (22)

29. Ariel Cunio (27)

30. David Cunio (34)

31. Emily Damari (28)

32. Oz Daniel (19)

33. Evyatar David (23)

34. Itzhak Elgarat (69)

35. Ronen Engel (54)

36. Daniella Gilboa (20)

37. Guy Gilboa-Dalal (23)

38. Meny Godard (73)

39. Hadar Goldin (23)

40. Romi Gonen (24)

41. Ran Gvili (24)

42. Gadi Haggai (72)

43. Judi Weinstein Haggai (70)

44. Tal Haimi (41)

45. Inbar Hayman (27)

46. Maxim Herkin (36)

47. Eitan Horn (38)

48. Yair Horn (46)

49. Tzachi Idan (50)

50. Guy Illouz (26)

51. Bipin Joshi (24)

52. Ofer Kalderon (54)

53. Segev Kalfon (26)

54. Ofra Keidar (70)

55. Bar Abraham Kupershtein (23)

56. Solasak Lamanao (30)

57. Eitan Levi (53)

58. Shay Levinson (19)

59. Naama Levy (20)

60. Or Levy (34)

61. Oded Lifshitz (84)

62. Shlomo Mantzur (86)

63. Eliyahu Margalit (75)

64. Avera Mangisto (38)

65. Omri Miran (47)

66. Joshua Loitu Mollel (21)

67. Eitan Abraham Mor (24)

68. Gadi Moshe Mozes (80)

69. Pinta Natthaphong (35)

70. Omer Neutra (21)

71. Tamir Nimrodi (20)

72. Yosef-Chaim Ohana (24)

73. Alon Ohel (23)

74. Sontia Ok’Krasari (30)

75. Avinatan Or (31)

76. Dror Or (48)

77. Daniel Peretz (22)

78. Sontisek Rintalk (43)

79. Lior Rudaeff (61)

80. Banawat Saithiao (27)

81. Yonatan Samerano (21)

82. Eli Sharabi (52)

83. Yossi Sharabi (53)

84. Oron Shaul (21)

85. Omer Shem-Tov (22)

86. Tal Shoham (39)

87. Idan Shtivi (28)

88. Keith Samuel Siegel (65)

89. Doron Steinbrecher (31)

90. Sathian Suwannakham (34)

91. Pongsak Thaenna (35)

92. Alexanrdre Sasha Troufanov (29)

93. Sriuan Watchara (32)

94. Ilan Weiss (56)

95. Omer Wenkert (23)

96. Yair Yaakov (59)

97. Ohad Yahalomi (50)

98. Arbel Yehoud (29)

99. Arieh Zalmanowicz (85)

100. 100.Matan Zangauker (24)

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