Iran Strikes Haifa Mosque With Missile, Injures Muslim Clerics While ‘Firing Indiscriminately at Civilians’

Shiryn Ghermezian

A man walks near broken windows at a mosque that was damaged following Iran’s missile strike on Israel, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Haifa, Israel, June 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Rami Shlush

A mosque in the Israeli city of Haifa was hit by a ballistic missile launched by Iran on Friday morning, and Muslim clerics were among those injured in the attack.

Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar said Iran’s barrage of missiles targeting Haifa struck the Al-Jarina Mosque in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood and clerics inside the mosque sustained injuries. Haifa is a port city in the north that has a mixed Arab and Israeli population.

“The Iranian regime is targeting Muslim, Christian, and Jewish civilians, as well as civilian sites. These are war crimes,” said Sa’ar in a post on X. He also shared a video of the mosque that was hit in the missile attack.

Sa’ar later arrived at the scene of the strike and gave a statement to the press.

“We see here once again the results of the Iranian strategy. The Iranian regime is deliberately targeting civilian population centers. Therefore, you can see that a pure civilian area was hit here. Specifically, in that case, a mosque,” he said.

“It’s a war crime. This is clear, because according to international law, you cannot target civilian population centers,” the top Israeli diplomat continued. “But it is also a mistake because the root of it is a lack of understanding of the Israeli society. The Israeli society is strong. It strongly supports our operation in Iran. They all want to remove the double existential threat – the nuclear threat and the missile threat. Therefore, we will continue our operation and will not stop for even one minute before we will achieve our goals.”

Photos shared on social media show the mosque’s broken windows and other damage to the religious site, all as a result of the Iranian strike.

“The Iranian regime is firing indiscriminately at civilians — with zero regard for who they hit,” read a post on Israel’s official X account about the missile attack in Haifa.

Iran launched around 20 to 25 ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday and at least 19 people were wounded from the strikes in Haifa, local authorities said.

A spokesperson for Israel’s national emergency response service, Magen David Adom (MDA), said its teams treated and evacuated injuries civilians that include a roughly 40-year-old man in serious condition, a 16-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel in his upper body, and a 54-year-old man in moderate condition with shrapnel in his lower limbs.

Friday marks one week since the start of the Israel-Iran war, which began with the Jewish state launching pre-emptive strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets in a campaign known as Operation Rising Lion. MDA said that since the war began on June 13, its paramedics and EMTs have treated at least 1,007 people, including 23 who have died.

Iran Strikes Haifa Mosque With Missile, Injures Muslim Clerics While ‘Firing Indiscriminately at Civilians’

Shiryn Ghermezian

A man walks near broken windows at a mosque that was damaged following Iran’s missile strike on Israel, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Haifa, Israel, June 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Rami Shlush

A mosque in the Israeli city of Haifa was hit by a ballistic missile launched by Iran on Friday morning, and Muslim clerics were among those injured in the attack.

Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar said Iran’s barrage of missiles targeting Haifa struck the Al-Jarina Mosque in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood and clerics inside the mosque sustained injuries. Haifa is a port city in the north that has a mixed Arab and Israeli population.

“The Iranian regime is targeting Muslim, Christian, and Jewish civilians, as well as civilian sites. These are war crimes,” said Sa’ar in a post on X. He also shared a video of the mosque that was hit in the missile attack.

Sa’ar later arrived at the scene of the strike and gave a statement to the press.

“We see here once again the results of the Iranian strategy. The Iranian regime is deliberately targeting civilian population centers. Therefore, you can see that a pure civilian area was hit here. Specifically, in that case, a mosque,” he said.

“It’s a war crime. This is clear, because according to international law, you cannot target civilian population centers,” the top Israeli diplomat continued. “But it is also a mistake because the root of it is a lack of understanding of the Israeli society. The Israeli society is strong. It strongly supports our operation in Iran. They all want to remove the double existential threat – the nuclear threat and the missile threat. Therefore, we will continue our operation and will not stop for even one minute before we will achieve our goals.”

Photos shared on social media show the mosque’s broken windows and other damage to the religious site, all as a result of the Iranian strike.

“The Iranian regime is firing indiscriminately at civilians — with zero regard for who they hit,” read a post on Israel’s official X account about the missile attack in Haifa.

Iran launched around 20 to 25 ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday and at least 19 people were wounded from the strikes in Haifa, local authorities said.

A spokesperson for Israel’s national emergency response service, Magen David Adom (MDA), said its teams treated and evacuated injuries civilians that include a roughly 40-year-old man in serious condition, a 16-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel in his upper body, and a 54-year-old man in moderate condition with shrapnel in his lower limbs.

Friday marks one week since the start of the Israel-Iran war, which began with the Jewish state launching pre-emptive strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets in a campaign known as Operation Rising Lion. MDA said that since the war began on June 13, its paramedics and EMTs have treated at least 1,007 people, including 23 who have died.

Arab Town in Israel Weeps for Four Family Members Killed in Iranian Strike

Reuters and Algemeiner Staff

Relatives and friends attend the funeral of four members of a family who were killed during a missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Tamra, north Israel, June 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

When a phone alert sounded on Saturday night to warn of Iranian missiles flying towards his town of Tamra in northern Israel, Nidal Abu Al Heija called his sister to tell her to take shelter with her daughters, but no one answered.

After the alert, he rushed to the area where she lived. The street was full of people and littered with debris.

“I was asking people what happened, and someone, he just said to me ‘oh, Nidal.’ He didn’t know what to say. And then the other one says, ‘it’s your own sister’s house,’” Abu Al Heija said, speaking to Reuters four days after the strike.

The house had taken a direct hit. Part of the roof had collapsed, crushing the top floor. Windows and walls were blasted out and rubble tumbled down the side of the house.

“Darkness, dust, smell of bomb, something I don’t want to remember,” said Abu Al Heija.

“I was just going there shouting ‘Noura! Noura! Shada! Hala!’ And then unfortunately I saw her coming, people holding her, with no breath.”

Known to her family as Noura, Manar Abu Al Heija Katib, 45, and two of her daughters, Shada, 20, and Hala, 13, were killed, along with Manar’s sister-in-law, Manar Diab Katib, 41.

The only survivors were Manar Abu Al Heija Katib’s husband, Raja Katib, and their third daughter, Razan.

The dead were among those killed in the conflict with Iran since Israel launched air and missile attacks on Iran a week ago that have wiped out the top echelon of Iran’s military command, damaged nuclear capabilities, and killed hundreds of Iranians.

Iran has aimed hundreds of retaliatory missiles at Israel and killed at least two dozen people.

‘BURNING FIRE INSIDE’

In Tamra, a small Arab town about 25 km (16 miles) east of the port city of Haifa, relatives and the wider community are in shock.

“If I would have gone [died] with my wife and my two girls, it would have been easier because I have a burning fire inside,” Manar’s husband told reporters on Wednesday.

The sisters-in-law were both teachers. Their husbands, Raja Katib and his brother Ihab Katib, have described them to local media as wonderful women. Pictures of the two daughters showed them smiling warmly.

Nidal Abu Al Heija recalled telling people previously that the chances of being killed in the war with Iran were tiny. Now he said he was dealing with an unfathomable loss.

“Noura was the thing that we loved. Noura was the thing that united the family,” he said.

The four had run to a protected room on the top level of the house, he said, but it could not withstand the Iranian missile.

Tamra has been hit by rockets before, but smaller ones fired by terrorist group Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.

Since Saturday’s strike, many residents of Tamra have begun spending the night in public shelters inside schools.

On Tuesday, four simple wooden coffins with wreaths of red and white flowers were carried through the narrow streets of Tamra, with crowds of men chanting as they walked alongside and people watching from every window and doorstep.

At the town‘s cemetery, Muslim prayers rang out from a loudspeaker and a large number of men, mostly dressed in black, surrounded the gravediggers and relatives as the four were laid to rest.

Afterwards, a group of women and girls paid their respects by the graves. They wept and embraced each other as they walked away.

Fragment of Yemeni Ballistic Missile Hits Palestinian Village Wounding Three Children After Israel Strikes Iran

Algemeiner Staff

A Houthi ballistic missile strike in the Palestinian village of Sa’ir. July 13, 2025. Credit: X/Twitter

The first ballistic missile fired against Israel in response to its strikes against Iran hit a Palestinian village in the West Bank, according to the Israeli military.

The missile, fired by Yemen’s Houthi terrorist group, set off sirens across Israel on Friday evening as the country braced itself for an expected counterattack from Iran. The missile impacted near Hebron in the southern West Bank in the Palestinian village of Sa’ir.

Three children were wounded, according to the Red Crescent.

Since March 18, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following a two-month ceasefire, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have launched 49 ballistic missiles and at least 11 drones at Israel, according to Israeli military data.

This is not the first time that Iranian and Houthis attacks against Israel have resulted in damage and casualties in Palestinian villages.

The only fatality from Iran’s mass missile attack against Israel in October 2024 was a Palestinian man from Gaza. The man was killed in the West Bank village of Nu’eima, near Jericho, by falling fuselage from an intercepted missile.

In Iran’s first attack against Israel in April 2024, a 7-year-old Bedouin girl was critically injured when shrapnel from a ballistic missile hit her family’s home in a Bedouin town near the Negev city of Arad. She was hospitalized for more than three months.

Israel Closes Embassies Worldwide, Jews Abroad Urged to Be Vigilant Following Iran Strikes

Ailin Vilches Arguello

Smoke billows following missile attack from Iran on Israel, at Tel Aviv, Israel, June 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Gideon Markowicz ISRAEL

Israel has closed its embassies worldwide and is urging citizens to remain vigilant and avoid displaying Jewish or Israeli symbols in public, amid fears of Iranian retaliation following a series of Israeli strikes on Iran.

According to statements posted on embassy websites on Friday, Israel suspended consular services and urged citizens to cooperate with local authorities if threatened, without indicating how long the closures would last.

“In light of recent developments, Israeli missions around the world will be closed and consular services will not be provided,” the statement said.

Israel launched a broad preemptive attack on Iran overnight on Friday, targeting military installations and nuclear sites across the country in what officials described as an effort to neutralize an imminent nuclear threat, as nuclear negotiations between the United States and Tehran appear on the brink of collapse.

The Israeli strike killed several of Iran’s top military commanders and significantly weakened the country’s ability to retaliate, raising concerns of the risk of a broader conflict in the Middle East.

After Iran’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned, of “severe punishment,” the country deployed a wave of drones toward Israel, followed by two barrages of ballistic missiles, most of which were intercepted.

However, Jerusalem and many observers fear that Tehran may retaliate by targeting Jewish and Israeli interests worldwide, especially given Iran’s compromised ability to strike directly at Israel.

Iran has a long history of orchestrating violence against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad, including support for terrorism and assassination plots in the West.

Tehran has regularly called for Israel’s destruction and supported terrorist groups worldwide — including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen — by providing funding, training, and weapons.

US President Donald Trump suggested that Iran had brought the attack upon itself by rejecting Washington’s demands in nuclear negotiations to limit the country’s uranium enrichment program.

He urged Tehran to reach a nuclear deal, warning that “the next attacks already planned will be even more brutal.”

In response to Israel’s warnings of potential attacks on Jewish communities abroad, Jewish sites worldwide are strengthening their security measures.

Following a security cabinet meeting on Friday and a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Germany is increasing security measures for Jewish and Israeli sites.

The German leader also urged both Israel and Iran to avoid actions that could further escalate tensions, while emphasizing Israel’s right to defend its existence and the security of its citizens.

“Germany is ready to use all diplomatic means at our disposal to influence the parties to the conflict,” Merz said in a statement. “The goal must remain that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons.”

Elsewhere in Europe, Sweden has stepped up visible security around the Great Synagogue of Stockholm and other Jewish sites.

In the United States, the Secure Community Network, a leading Jewish security organization, has called on Jewish communities to “remain on heightened alert and maintain robust security measures.”

“SCN stresses that, while there is currently no credible or specific threat against the Jewish community, this development occurs amid an already intensified threat environment,” the organization wrote in a post on X.

“This environment is fueled in part by Iranian-linked actors, designated foreign terrorist organizations, violent extremists, and politically motivated groups – entities which continue to incite violence globally, including against Jewish civilians and communal facilities, often under the pretext of perceived grievances related to Israel’s war with Hamas and related military or political developments,” the statement read.

In New York City, police ramped up security at Jewish and Israeli sites amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.

“The NYPD [New York Police Department] is tracking the situation in the Middle East. Out of an abundance of caution, we’re deploying additional resources to Jewish, Israeli & other sites throughout NYC,” the department posted on X. “We’re coordinating with our federal partners & we’ll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC.”