A second man wounded in an Iranian cluster bomb missile strike in central Israel on Monday morning died of his injuries on Tuesday, medical officials said, bringing the death toll from the attack to two.
The submunitions from the cluster bomb warhead hit at least six locations across central Israel, including in the cities of Yehud, Or Yehuda, Holon, and Bat Yam.
The victims were identified on Tuesday as Rustam Gulomov and Amid Murtuzov, both in their 40s and residents of Petah Tikva.
The two men were working at a construction site in Yehud when one of the cluster bomb munitions from the ballistic missile struck the area.
They were not in a bomb shelter or other protective space, according to first responders.
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Medics declared the death of one of the men at the scene and took the second to a hospital in critical condition, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
First responders at the scene of a deadly missile impact at a construction site in Yehud on March 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The chief of the Home Front Command, Maj. Gen. Shai Klapper, said that dozens of other construction workers survived the attack after entering bomb shelters.
“We had a difficult incident at this construction site, where several people were injured. At the same time, I want to say that there were dozens of workers whose lives were saved. Their lives were saved because they were in a protected space and followed the guidelines,” he said in a video published by the military.
Another man was seriously wounded in Or Yehuda during the attack. He was also not in a bomb shelter when he was struck by one of the cluster munitions, first responders said.
Images from the scenes of the impacts showed craters in the ground and vehicles and buildings damaged by the explosions.
Israeli rescue and emergency forces at the scene where shrapnel from a ballistic missile fired from Iran fell in Holon, March 9, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Iran has launched multiple ballistic missiles at Israel carrying cluster bomb warheads during the ongoing conflict, indiscriminately spreading dozens of small bombs over wide areas of the country.
Speaking to the Haaretz newspaper, a crane operator who was at the Yehud building site at the time of impact emphasized the danger faced by construction workers during missile attacks.
“I came down and barely made it. I got the alert, waited for them to disconnect me from the load, closed up the crane and went down,” he told the news outlet. “It took a few minutes, and time was running out; by the time I started descending, the siren had already begun.”
Israeli rescue and emergency forces at the scene where shrapnel from a ballistic missile fired from Iran fell in Yehud, March 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
He recalled seeing the two men who were later killed when he reach ground level, before making the quick decision to head to a nearby underground parking garage for protection.
“Ten seconds after I decided and went down to the garage, there was the boom. I went back up after half a minute and just saw them lying there on the floor,” he said. “I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t gone inside.”
Speaking from a home in another area in central Israel that was hit by one of the cluster munitions, Klapper called on Israelis to follow emergency guidelines that, he says, “save lives.”
“This apartment was hit by a cluster bomb. I know the scope of the launches is somewhat lower, and it may be that the number of sirens is a bit higher, but this apartment illustrates that a cluster bomb also causes enormous damage,” he said.
Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Shai Klapper (left) is seen alongside other officers at a home in central Israel hit by an Iranian cluster bomb munition, March 9, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
Klapper said that nobody was hurt at the apartment because the family had followed the Home Front Command’s guidelines and took shelter.
“Therefore, I call on the citizens of Israel to continue to show resilience and courage, to follow the Home Front Command’s instructions — they save lives,” he added.
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