Even Jerusalem’s Old City is running for cover

South African olah Kim Bash was sitting in her miklat (bomb shelter) in Jerusalem’s Old City on Tuesday, 17 March when she heard a massive explosion. She thought a missile had hit her home or somewhere dangerously close. She wasn’t wrong. 

“There was a massive explosion,” Bash, who made aliya from Johannesburg 20 years ago, said. “When there’s a big boom, my whole house shakes.” The sound was immediate, violent, and close enough to rattle the glass doors in her home. “The glass doors vibrate. It’s boom, boom, boom. It was really really scary.” 

Within minutes, she discovered the explosion was the result of falling shrapnel from intercepted missiles that had fallen into Jerusalem’s Old City, striking both the Jewish and Christian Quarters. One large piece of metal landed in a car park about 250 metres from the home she shares with her husband and four children. That shrapnel crashed into a parked car. “It was a miracle no-one was there,” she said. Other pieces struck rooftops, scattering debris across the Old City residential area. 

The impact of this falling shrapnel, said Bash, destroyed a long-held assumption by Old City residents. “It’s something we always said would never happen,” she said. “They said they’d never aim towards Jerusalem. But at the end of the day, they’re just shooting. It doesn’t matter where.” 

While Israel’s missile defence systems mostly prevent direct hits, the debris that falls is still extremely dangerous. In this case, large pieces of metal landed right next to and on the roofs of homes in one of the most densely inhabited and historically significant streets in the world. 

“In the Jewish Quarter, where we live, a big piece of metal fell into a parking lot,” Bash said. “In the Christian Quarter, there were several very large pieces. Everything here is so close together. It is all within a couple of minutes’ walk.” 

She said that even when the shrapnel isn’t visible, the horrific sound heard in the miklat is unmistakable. “You hear it like an echo,” she explained. “And then you know something has happened.” 

The danger isn’t only in where shrapnel lands, but how it lands, she explained to the SA Jewish Report this week. “It doesn’t just land. It splinters outwards. It can hit everywhere.” 

Even after the impact, the threat remains. “You’re not allowed to touch it,” she says. “Special forces have to come in to deal with it. Some of these can still explode after they’ve landed.” 

For Bash, and others living in the Old City, the fear during this war isn’t a single moment but a constant state of readiness. Sirens can come with warnings, or without. “They try to give a warning before the sirens,” she says. “But sometimes there’s nothing. Just sirens. Or even explosions without sirens.” 

Unlike newer homes elsewhere in Israel, there are no inhouse safe rooms in the Old City. Instead, residents rely on miklatot located underground or beneath buildings. Reaching them requires speed. “We have to run out into the street. It’s about a 30-second run to the miklat,” Bash explained. 

Those seconds shape how people live. “I go to bed in my clothes,” she said. “I don’t even get into pyjamas. Everybody’s dressed, ready to go.” For the past two weeks, this has been routine. “We sleep with bags ready. You have no idea when a siren is going to happen.” 

And yet, even as explosions echo through the Old City, life continues. A real estate agent, she sees that resilience plays out in her work every day. “Nobody’s saying, ‘Israel’s at war, we’re going to cancel,’” she said. “I had four clients in one day. Every day, people are still looking for homes.” 

For many, the instability has only deepened their commitment. “People believe Israel is their safety net,” she explained. “Especially with what’s happening around the world, people would rather invest here than anywhere else.” 

For Bash, that belief is unwavering. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else,” she said. “Not in a million years. I really believe that this is where we’re all supposed to be. This is our homeland.” 

Around her, the reality remains tense, unpredictable, and often frightening. But the response is consistent. “Israelis are resilient,” she said. “We just get on with life. Yes, there are missiles. Yes, we run into bomb shelters. But this is life here. You just keep going.” 

Rolene Marks, South African Zionist Federation spokesperson, said, “What we are witnessing is not just a series of statistics but a relentless assault on ordinary people going about their daily lives. 

“Over the past week alone, Israelis have endured 5 424 red alerts, including 1 274 in a single day, and more than 18 403 over the past month,” she said. 

“Each siren is a moment of panic. Families running for cover, children being woken in the night, lives repeatedly interrupted by the threat of incoming fire. A single rocket can trigger alerts across multiple areas, meaning entire regions are forced into shelters at once.” 

To date, 14 people in Israel have been killed since the escalation began on 28 February. The most recent victims, an elderly couple in their 70s in Ramat Gan, were unable to reach a shelter in time. 

“These are not numbers; they are people, our brothers and sisters. Many of the injuries and deaths have been caused by shrapnel from intercepted missiles, a stark reminder that even when Israel’s defence systems are working, the danger remains immediate and deadly,” Marks said. 

“There has also been damage to homes and civilian areas, including like in this instance in Jerusalem’s Old City – one of the most religiously sensitive places on earth. This cannot be overstated: these attacks place all religious sites at risk, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian alike,” she said. 

“Without Israel’s missile defence systems, the consequences would be catastrophic. Holy sites, including mosques in Jerusalem, have been directly exposed. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is firing indiscriminately at population centres, showing no regard for civilians, for history, or for religion, even when it endangers sites sacred to its own faith.”