Map Shows Massive Scale of Rocket, Missile and Drone Attacks Across Israel

A map released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) purportedly shows how Israel's largest-ever deployment of air defense assets has responded to an unprecedented number of attacks spanning the entire country amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

As new reports of attacks on various fronts continued to emerge Thursday, the IDF issued a statement saying that around 9,500 rockets and dozens of aircraft have been launched against Israel since Hamas launched a surprise attack on October 7, more than double the amount faced during the entirety of Israel's second war with Lebanon in 2006. Around 3,000 rockets were fired against Israel in the opening hours of the current conflict alone, according to the IDF.

So far, the IDF said it has intercepted about 2,000 rocket and mortar attacks, as well as dozens of hostile aircraft, mostly likely a reference to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Most of the launches have originated in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas and a number of other armed Palestinian factions are based. Others, however, have come from across the border with Lebanon, with the northernmost interception being marked as the occupied Shebaa Farms, and as far away as Yemen, with the southernmost interception being indicated as the Red Sea.

Responding to these attacks is the IDF's Aerial Defense Array, which comprises the Iron Dome anti-rocket system, the David's Sling anti-aircraft and anti-missile system, the U.S.-built M1M-104 Patriot anti-missile system and the Arrow anti-missile system. Now, for the first time, "all the aerial defense systems are working simultaneously," according to the IDF.

"All of these provide protection in every layer of aerial defense and enable optimal protection of the Israeli home front," the IDF said. "The array's successes were realized, among other things, as a result of the deep cooperation effort between the IDF and the defense industries, as well as between the IDF and the United States Armed Forces, which are force multipliers in this war."

Still, the IDF emphasized that "the defense is not hermetic and the public must adhere to the Home Front Command's guidelines."

IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht also addressed the issue on Thursday during a briefing with reporters.

"It's a very interesting mindset, because we were caught by surprise, but we're still holding the line," Hecht said. "We made the analogy of the Yom Kippur War, where anything we had, we shot. We also used Arrows, we also used Patriots, we also used David's Sling. The Arrow also intercepted a cruise missile from Yemen."

Yemen's Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, have announced a series of missile and drone attacks targeting southern Israel in recent weeks, including a new salvo fired Thursday. The latest attack, according to military spokesperson Yahiya Sare'e, targeted the southern Israeli city of Eilat, also called Umm al-Rashrash in Arabic.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces continue to carry out their military operations in support of the oppression of the Palestinian people and until the Israeli aggression against our brothers in Gaza stops," Sare'e said in a statement.

While Sare'e asserted that "the operation successfully achieved its objectives and led to direct casualties in the specified targets, despite the enemy's secrecy about it," the IDF said, "a missile launched toward Israeli territory was identified and successfully intercepted in the area of the Red Sea by the 'Arrow' Aerial Defense System."

Earlier, the IDF stated that "a UAV hit a civilian building in the city of Eilat, in southern Israel" and that "the identity of the UAV and the details of the incident are under review." Particularly being investigated, according to IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is why an alert was not activated.

"The defense in Eilat and its surrounding areas protects it from sea and airborne threats, forming layers of defense, which is a good defense," Hagari said during a press briefing. "We will investigate why this happened. We will learn and draw lessons and also inform the public."

Also on Thursday, "the IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted a suspicious target in the Arava area, in southern Israel using the 'Yahalom' (Patriot) system," according to the IDF.

Another foreign group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, believed by U.S. officials to be a coalition of Iran-backed militias, has also claimed attacks in Eilat, as well as the Dead Sea coast, amid its ongoing campaign of daily strikes against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

Asked by Newsweek about the rise in attacks against Eilat, Hecht said that enemy forces were likely seeking to target any Israeli assets they could. "Eilat is an Israeli city, it's also a port, so it has a valuable asset to Israel," Hecht said.

Fighting has also escalated on the IDF's northern front with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.

In the latest series of attacks announced by Hezbollah, the group said that "the mujahideen of the Islamic resistance" targeted Israeli infantry forces in the border village of Tarbikha as well as two Merkava tanks in the border town of Metula. The IDF said it responded with tank and artillery fire and later conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah "terror compounds and infrastructure, observation posts, and technological equipment used to direct terror against Israel."

Iran has played a central role in supporting regionwide militias as part of an "Axis of Resistance" opposed to Israel and the U.S. In addition to supporting such groups, which include Hamas and other Palestinian factions, the Islamic Republic has amassed the region's largest and most advanced missile arsenal.

While Iranian officials have stated that they did not want the war to spread, Hecht said that the IDF's Arrow system would be capable of intercepting Iranian long-range missiles launched against Israel.