I'll Die Here: Palestinians Exposed by Great Divide

When an Iranian missile bound for the industrial port of Haifa dropped out of the sky on the town of Tamra on Saturday night, it fell on Israel's most vulnerable, and in one devastating flash, lit up the country's deepest divide.

- Julian Borger

The missile demolished a three-storey stone house and killed four members of the same family: Manar Khatib and her two daughters - Shada, a university student, and Hala, a 13-year-old girl - as well as Manar's sister-in-law, Manal. It was a solid house built in an old Arab style and it had two "safe rooms", one on each floor. When they heard the air raid sirens Manar and her daughters ran to the one on the second floor as they had practised, but the reinforced concrete did not protect them. They were blown apart and the floor under them fell on the safe room directly below, crushing Manal.

The blast blew the core out of the building and sent the neighbours flying. About 40 people were injured, though none of the wounds were life-threatening.

"The explosion was so loud I can still hear it," said Azmeh Kiwan, a 50-year-old homeowner who lived directly opposite. When he opened his eyes, the whole district was in total darkness. It was only when the town's rescue workers came with their bright lights that the neighbours could see the road was full of rubble - and it was only when the sun rose that they saw body parts scattered on their terraces and roofs.

Kheir Abu-Elhija, a first responder quick to the scene, said he had never seen anything like it in 20 years. "The second-floor safe room came right down on the first floor safe room and crushed everything," he said. "The only way we could find Manal's remains was by a trail of blood."