A woman scrambles down a steep embankment with a baby in her arms.
A man extends a hand to another, their step quickens. Sirens blare, a warning that incoming missiles are minutes away.
We are all standing on the side of a busy highway on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
The normal rules for bunkering are out the window – all we can do is find a trench.
A woman with a child takes shelter by the side of the road
That is the pattern of life Israel Right now, day and night alerts are still ringing across the country.
After the all clear, we understand that the missiles hit neighborhoods a couple of kilometers away from us.
We go to a built up area where firefighters are putting out the flames of cars on fire. Locals escaped with their lives.
It was quite a chaotic scene when we arrived as soldiers cordoned off the area, warning people to go back.
Keshet, a 21-year-old woman, tells us part of the Iranian cluster bomb from her home.
Part of the bomb cluster landed near Keshet’s house
“There was a boom,” he says. “We ran out and saw the fire, it was like an earthquake – it was very scary.”
Not too complacent. The war is in its third week and people have confidence in Israel’s defense systems to intercept the missiles.
Some are passing and there is another very real danger of debris falling from the sky after interception.
A building was damaged in Israel
Israel’s missile defenses collide with incoming missiles Iran Or Hezbollah – and debris can land absolutely anywhere.
Kobi Hasona is furious. He lives next to a storage container that was destroyed in a fire when debris fell from an intercepted missile.
When we spoke to him, the pungent smell of smoke was still in the air.
“Do they (the Iranians) know what they are doing to the target?” He says. “They just shoot. It landed right next to my house. All over the place.”
But that idea — that no one wants to be miserable — often still drives people to shelters. Safe places under their houses or underground. Not everyone has a safe room in their home.
In an underground car park, we meet Alex Proskurov, 46, from the city of Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv.
“We’re not really worried about sitting in a bomb shelter for months,” he says defiantly. “Until we finish the job once and for all.”
Alex Proskurov in the underground car park. Image: Sky News
His advice: “Don’t be a leader and it will be fine.”
Iran is not causing massive casualties in Israel – unlike Israel’s bombing of Iran and Lebanon.
But it has successfully engaged in psychological warfare.
