The blast struck without warning in the Palestinian town of Beit Awa, sending a hail of missile fragments through a beauty salon and killing four women inside.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the first Palestinian deaths in the Middle East war have sharpened a sense of helplessness as they find themselves ensnared in the crossfire of yet another conflict.
Issa Masalmeh was sitting nearby when a loud bang startled him to his feet at around 9:30 pm on Wednesday and he saw debris hurtling down from the sky.
“It fell without any warning. There was no alert,” the 60-year-old resident told AFP.
He said metal shards tore through an area of some 200 square metres. The scene at the salon was horrific.
“The women who died, their bodies were torn apart,” Masalmeh said.
Medics initially said three women died at the scene. A fourth, who was six months pregnant, succumbed to her wounds later in hospital.
They all were at the salon the day before the start of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
On Thursday morning the coffins of the first three victims were carried out of a nearby hospital in Dura by members of the Palestinian security forces.
Draped in Palestinian flags they were loaded into ambulances to be taken to their final resting place.
“We are in a state of shock and incomprehension over why we are the ones paying the price for a situation we have nothing to do with,” Fawzi Abu Leil, the mayor of Dura, told AFP.
“It was so sudden and unexpected — a tragedy and a massacre that no one can fathom.”
‘Nowhere to shelter’
As Israel and the United States carry out waves of devastating air raids across Iran, Tehran has hit back against Israel with barrages of missiles.
Palestinian authorities could not confirm if the shrapnel came from an Iranian missile or an Israeli interceptor used to shoot it down.
While in Israel there is a highly efficient system of alerts and a widespread network of shelters where residents seek refuge, those in the West Bank say they have little protection.
“The Israelis can avoid all of this because they have shelters,” said Abu Leil.
“In any conflict in the region, the Palestinian people are the victims because we have practically nowhere to shelter.”
Hours after the carnage, firefighters were still hosing away the blood from the mangled metal container that had housed the beauty salon.
Shrapnel scars pockmarked the walls.
Abdelrazek Masalmeh was coming to terms with the terrible scene of severed limbs he found after rushing there from his nearby home.
“It was a shock, a disaster,” the 32-year-old neuroscience researcher told AFP.
Like others in the town, he was left angry and hopeless after death fell suddenly from the sky in a conflict far beyond their control.
“We are the victims. It’s not our war,” he said.
“They should leave us alone and do what they want to each other… it should end.”
