Since the collapse of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the Houthi rebels have begun launching ballistic missiles toward Israel on a daily basis. These are two-stage ballistic missiles, propelled by solid fuel and called “Palestine 2,” which move at hypersonic speeds. According to announcements from the IDF spokesperson, the Arrow system has intercepted the missiles outside of Israel’s borders without causing any property damage due to the missiles’ fall or interception debris. The launch from Yemen on Monday, March 27, 2025, included two ballistic missiles, one of which was intercepted by the American THAAD system; as a result of the dual interception, several missile fragments fell within Israeli territory.
The sequence of ballistic missile fire from Yemen to Israel is a significant nuisance, and according to the strict policy of the Home Front Command, it requires millions of citizens to enter protected spaces during late-night hours or peak times during the day. Alerts are intended to warn the public of potential harm and cover a wide area because, even though a ballistic missile’s trajectory can be predicted, in its second stage, the missile can maneuver in different directions.
Is there a contradiction between the IDF spokesperson’s announcements about interceptions outside the country’s borders and reports from citizens who have seen missile trails, flashes of light, and sometimes heard the sound of the interceptors? The fact is that most of the missiles have been intercepted without causing physical damage within Israel, which likely indicates interceptions outside the atmosphere, at the peak of their flight, by the Arrow or THAAD systems. At an altitude of approximately 100–150 kilometers, the field of vision is very wide, allowing high-altitude objects to be seen from a great distance. This also explains why sometimes no alert is activated, even though the interception can be seen from a distance and the noise of the interceptors can be heard when they are near a populated area. Additionally, the distortion of light rays from the explosion flashes as they pass through the atmosphere may create a false sense of the location of the intercepted object.
Except for the last two cases, the fact that no missile fragments, interceptor fragments, or debris have fallen in populated areas in Israel reinforces the assumption that the interceptions indeed took place far from the country’s borders. The incident on Sunday, March 30, when several interception fragments fell in the Jerusalem area, does not necessarily indicate the interception’s location. It is important to remember that the encounter between the interceptor and the target missile at tremendous speeds gives the resulting fragments or debris extremely high kinetic energy, allowing for wide and random dispersion of the fragments, which is also the reason for remaining in the protected space for ten minutes.
The term used by the IDF spokesperson, “outside the state’s borders,” is justified from an operational and intelligence perspective and is intended to avoid revealing unnecessary details to the enemy. The public in Israel is asked to trust the IDF spokesperson’s announcements and accept them as they are: There is no intention to manipulate public perception or diminish the threat but rather to present a realistic picture while maintaining the necessary intelligence considerations.
ByGSpeech
Since the collapse of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the Houthi rebels have begun launching ballistic missiles toward Israel on a daily basis. These are two-stage ballistic missiles, propelled by solid fuel and called “Palestine 2,” which move at hypersonic speeds. According to announcements from the IDF spokesperson, the Arrow system has intercepted the missiles outside of Israel’s borders without causing any property damage due to the missiles’ fall or interception debris. The launch from Yemen on Monday, March 27, 2025, included two ballistic missiles, one of which was intercepted by the American THAAD system; as a result of the dual interception, several missile fragments fell within Israeli territory.
The sequence of ballistic missile fire from Yemen to Israel is a significant nuisance, and according to the strict policy of the Home Front Command, it requires millions of citizens to enter protected spaces during late-night hours or peak times during the day. Alerts are intended to warn the public of potential harm and cover a wide area because, even though a ballistic missile’s trajectory can be predicted, in its second stage, the missile can maneuver in different directions.
Is there a contradiction between the IDF spokesperson’s announcements about interceptions outside the country’s borders and reports from citizens who have seen missile trails, flashes of light, and sometimes heard the sound of the interceptors? The fact is that most of the missiles have been intercepted without causing physical damage within Israel, which likely indicates interceptions outside the atmosphere, at the peak of their flight, by the Arrow or THAAD systems. At an altitude of approximately 100–150 kilometers, the field of vision is very wide, allowing high-altitude objects to be seen from a great distance. This also explains why sometimes no alert is activated, even though the interception can be seen from a distance and the noise of the interceptors can be heard when they are near a populated area. Additionally, the distortion of light rays from the explosion flashes as they pass through the atmosphere may create a false sense of the location of the intercepted object.
Except for the last two cases, the fact that no missile fragments, interceptor fragments, or debris have fallen in populated areas in Israel reinforces the assumption that the interceptions indeed took place far from the country’s borders. The incident on Sunday, March 30, when several interception fragments fell in the Jerusalem area, does not necessarily indicate the interception’s location. It is important to remember that the encounter between the interceptor and the target missile at tremendous speeds gives the resulting fragments or debris extremely high kinetic energy, allowing for wide and random dispersion of the fragments, which is also the reason for remaining in the protected space for ten minutes.
The term used by the IDF spokesperson, “outside the state’s borders,” is justified from an operational and intelligence perspective and is intended to avoid revealing unnecessary details to the enemy. The public in Israel is asked to trust the IDF spokesperson’s announcements and accept them as they are: There is no intention to manipulate public perception or diminish the threat but rather to present a realistic picture while maintaining the necessary intelligence considerations.