Behind the tragedy of the four people killed in Sunday's missile strike on Haifa lies a heartbreaking story of timing and fate.
Just before the missile struck their home, the family's father had been a patient in the underground hospital beneath Rambam Medical Center. Every family member who was killed had been there with him.
The man, who was in his 70s, had been hospitalized at Rambam's underground facility for several weeks. He was discharged just an hour and a half before the missile hit.
His wife, his son, and his son's partner had come to the hospital to escort him home. Because first responders at the scene had no idea where the family was and assumed they might have been evacuated as wounded to one of the hospitals, Haifa Police officers contacted Rambam's security department to check whether they had arrived as casualties, and were stunned to learn that the man had been discharged from the hospital shortly before the strike.
Police asked Rambam's security department to use surveillance cameras to identify the family's vehicle and determine whether it was parked near the damaged building. Once the vehicle was identified on camera and confirmed to be parked next to the building, it became clear that this was a disaster and that the family had been trapped under the rubble.
