THIS is the chilling aftermath of a huge ballistic rocket blast by Iran which blew up a line of Israeli school buses.
A 30-foot crater loomed mere yards from the charred remains of the bus, starkly illustrating the devastating impact of the Iranian missiles that have been instilling fear in Israel since Friday.
The rocket was fired more than 1,000 miles and armed with a tonne of explosives.
It narrowly missed dozens of homes before thundering into a bus depot site.
Residents taking refuge in nearby shelters felt the ground tremble as an explosion unleashed a fireball and a shrapnel-laden shockwave, destroying ten buses at precisely 8:48 am on Tuesday.
The fervent Iranian regime has fired at least 370 missiles of similar nature—including a hypersonic one—alongside hundreds of drones targeting its primary adversary.
These attacks have left the normally bustling metropolis of Tel Aviv a virtual ghost town as citizens braced for the next phase of this fast-moving conflict.
The Sun’s team in Israel was taken to the crater in the suburb of Herzliya, around 10 miles from the port city’s centre overnight.
Locals were still reeling from the shock of the attack little more than 24 hours earlier – and counting the cost of 10 wrecked school buses worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Ahron Gablan – who owns seven buses smashed during the blitz – said: “They had been parked there because classes had been stopped because of the war.
“But God knows what would have happened if the children and their families hadn’t been in shelters.
“It exploded at 8.48am on a weekday when streets would usually be busy – when families would have been taking kids to school.
“I was in a synagogue nearby when the explosion shook the building – I have never felt or heard anything like it.
“The sound was terrifying.”
Mr Gablan, a 67-year-old father-of-five from Herzliya added: “My buses have been wrecked and I don’t know how I’ll recover from this.
“This is what happens when one of the missiles gets through but – thank God – it hit open ground next to the depot.
“Everyone is worried about where this war is going and what will happen next. We want it all to end.”
Israel and Iran are now in a deadly “race to the bottom” as their stocks of offensive and defensive missiles were drained by the six-day conflict.
Iran still has a mammoth stockpile of just under 3,000 missiles – the largest in the Middle East.
But Israel says it has so far knocked out more than a third of the nation’s ballistic launchers and is racing against time to hit more before further attacks are mounted.
Their urgency has been ramped up as rockets continued to fly forcing Israel to launch costly barrages using its high tech Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow rocket arsenals.
Analysts now say victory may now hinge on which side runs out of missiles first.
US sources last night said Israel is beginning to run low on Arrow rockets – the most vital ballistic missile defender – which could mean rationing defensive actions later this week.
At least 24 Israelis have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded since the start of the conflict – but locals fear casualty rates will rocket without a missile shield.
A local dad-of-two called Ismail said as he picked over wreckage near the crater site in Herzliya shrugged last night: “We know we are not safe and in a fight to the finish.
“Without the Iron Dome missiles like this would finish us and we are praying the Iranians will be stopped before it is too late.”
It comes as the war looks set to escalate into a global disaster with the US weighing up if they should get involved in strikes on Iran.
Donald Trump gave a clear warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader as he urged him to consider an “unconditional surrender”.
Ayatollah Khamenei vowed Tehran will “never surrender” as he warned against any US intervention in the conflict.
In his first statement since the escalation of bombings over the last few days, Khamenei said: “The battle begins.”
He warned that the US will face hell if it enters the war and drops a single bomb.
Trump held a crisis meeting in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday, discussing whether to enter the war.
After the 80-minute gathering, US officials indicated that the next 24 to 48 hours would be crucial in determining whether diplomacy could be achieved with Iran, ABC News reports.
This would likely include an ironclad agreement to dismantle Iran’s whole nuclear programme.
But if such commitments from Iran aren’t agreed, Trump may resort to military action against Iran instead.
