Haifa Refineries Damaged by Interceptor Debris Amid Iranian Barrages; No Injuries Reported

Damage was caused this afternoon (Thursday) to the Haifa refinery complex, as a result of a direct hit by interception debris at two sites. This happened during the barrages launched from Iran toward much of Israel.

Iranian television claimed it struck the energy facility in Haifa as \"revenge for South Pars\", the facility that was bombed by Israel.

The Environmental Protection Ministry spokesperson said, \"Following reports of interception debris falling in the Haifa area and suspicion of a hazardous materials incident, the ministry's director-general, Rami Rozen, along with teams and emergency responders from the ministry's Haifa District, are on their way to the site and are accompanying the activities of the security forces and emergency services operating in the field\".

Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen: "The damage to the power grid in the north is localized and not significant. Israel Electric Corporation teams are already working in the field and have restored power to most of those who lost service. Power will return to the remaining outages within a short time. In addition, in the barrage toward the north there was no significant damage to infrastructure sites in the State of Israel".

In the structure that was hit in the re finery complex there were flammable materials that led to a fire. At the scene,  about 20 firefighting teams operated. At the same time, concerns about a hazardous materials leak were lifted. The Fire and Rescue Authority said: "After extensive searches, firefighting and rescue forces carried out extinguishing and cooling operations at the facility and monitoring actions to rule out hazardous materials. There is no danger to the public".

Later, after extensive operations, the Coastal District Fire and Rescue spokesperson announced that full control was achieved over the incident at the Haifa refinery. No casualties were found at the scene, and no abnormal air readings were detected.

In the two barrages fired from Iran toward evening, security officials reported that  most of the missiles were intercepted. There were also reports of impacts in open areas. In addition, reports were received of damage to a building in a town in the Shephelah, as well as several impacts in the north, in the Jezreel Valley and Carmel areas. 

Police handled impact sites in the Menashe and Carmel areas, at several sites in Haifa, in the Binyamin sector, and in Jerusalem. These involved interception shrapnel and cluster munitions. Magen David Adom reported that one person in Yokneam was lightly wounded by shrapnel.