Iran launched about 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones toward Israel during the June 2025 fighting. Israeli and US air defenses intercepted most ballistic missiles, and Israeli aircraft, naval vessels and ground systems engaged drones. Yet dozens of missiles hit populated areas or infrastructure: 28 people in Israel were killed, most of them civilians, and thousands were treated for injuries.
How Israel protected civilians
Israel used layered air defenses, including systems designed to engage threats at different ranges, alongside fighter aircraft and naval assets. The IDF said most incoming ballistic missiles were intercepted, while nearly all threatening drones were stopped before reaching Israel. The reported figures after 12 days put the ballistic missile interception rate at around 90 percent and say nearly 99 percent of drones posing a threat were intercepted. These are military-reported figures; they do not mean every missile was engaged or stopped.
Home Front Command alerts directed civilians to safe rooms and public shelters. Shelters reduced exposure, but impacts still caused deaths, injuries and severe damage. Reporting on the first days noted that those killed or seriously wounded in early impacts had not been in shelters, reinforcing why people should follow alerts immediately. The contemporaneous account of attacks and shelter guidance describes both the defense systems and the missiles that breached them.
Impacts and civilian cost
Iranian missiles struck residential areas in central and northern Israel, as well as critical infrastructure including a power station and the Haifa oil refinery. The final count was 28 dead in Israel, including 27 civilians and one off-duty soldier. More than 3,000 people were hospitalized or treated for injuries, according to figures reported after the fighting. The victim record documents the human toll and the locations hit.
Interception rates need a denominator: some missiles were allowed to fall in open areas when they were judged not to threaten populated places or key infrastructure, conserving interceptors for higher-risk threats. Therefore, a missile that was not intercepted does not always mean a system failed. Conversely, an overall high rate did not prevent deadly impacts. Israel’s shelters, alerts and layered defenses reduced risk; they could not make the country invulnerable.
What the campaign revealed about stocks
High-volume attacks consume interceptors, and replenishment takes time and money. US forces assisted Israel’s defense, including with regional air-defense capabilities, while Israeli systems also carried much of the burden. Public reports during and after the conflict discussed pressure on interceptor inventories, but estimates of how many THAAD or Arrow interceptors were used varied and should not be treated as audited stockpile counts. No public figure establishes that a specific fraction of either country’s total inventory was expended.
The experience showed why missile defense requires more than one system: early warning, civilian sheltering, aircraft, naval defenses and interceptors all have different roles. Read how Israel’s campaign targeted missile launchers and what the later US strikes targeted.