Tel Aviv Missile Strike Destroys My Home: Reporting Through War and Survival

Shanna Fuld, CEO of Israel Daily News inside the ruins of her apartment in Tel Aviv that was destroyed by an Iranian Missile Strike

At 4 a.m. on Monday morning, a ballistic missile landed outside my Tel Aviv apartment. Just minutes before the alarm rang out, I had finished publishing the Israel Daily News Podcast and changed into pajamas after a long day reporting at a missile destruction site in the city of Bat Yam. I didn’t even have time to put on my boots before the siren went off. I sprinted upstairs to my neighbor’s safe room (mamad), where I huddled with three women as the missile whipped and whizzed past our building and struck. I could feel the missile’s power as it came by like a scary stranger in the night. 

The explosion was so violent that the handle on the shelter window unbolted and shot across the room as the window blew in. One of the girls screamed and sobbed. The building swayed right and then center as it dealt with the pressure of the blast. We were trapped inside for some time before emergency responders, (directed by my partner who was standing outside), broke down the apartment’s dented in front door and pulled us out one by one with an assembly line of soldiers/responders. The damage was staggering. My apartment—where I lived, worked, and recorded every episode of the Israel Daily News —was completely destroyed. Windows shattered, ceilings collapsed, water pipes burst (even over my head), and everything inside was decimated. When I returned just five hours later, I discovered I had also been looted. My jewelry box, filled with irreplaceable pieces from late family members, was emptied and left next to the front door. This killed my spirit the most. I’m now staying in a city-assigned hotel and also using the home of a generous stranger to help me store items, do laundry and work while she’s out of the country. The kindness I’ve received has been moving, and I’m doing my best to carry on—reporting from borrowed equipment, donated clothes, and accepting videos and quick edits for social media from my closest friends and colleagues. I have been slammed with bureaucracy, moving & cleaning a rotting stinking apartment and the emotional weight of having almost died.

This war is deeply personal now. It’s not just about missiles and headlines—it's about survival, community, resilience, truth and the unknown future. I’m here to keep bringing you the stories from the ground. Please continue to support this work by visiting IsraelDailyNews.org and clicking “donate.” You’re helping this news

outlet survive when everything else around us is breaking down.

With strength and gratitude,

Shanna Fuld