Jerusalem, 10 March, 2026 (TPS-IL) — About half of the ballistic missiles launched by Iran at Israel during the current conflict have carried cluster munition warheads, according to new assessments by the Israeli military.
Cluster warheads break apart in the air, dispersing dozens of smaller explosive submunitions over a wide area. Israeli officials say the bomblets can spread across a radius of roughly 10 kilometers (about six miles), creating a risk to civilians and increasing the potential for damage in populated areas.
The Israel Defense Forces say their air defense systems have intercepted many of the incoming missiles, including those carrying cluster payloads, but stress that the defenses are not foolproof. Military officials say the interceptions have been largely effective, though the nature of cluster munitions makes them more difficult to counter.
According to the military’s Home Front Command, Iranian Missile attacks during the war have targeted Israeli population centers as well as military bases and critical infrastructure.
In recent days, Iran’s launches have typically consisted of one or a few missiles at a time rather than large coordinated barrages. Israeli officials believe this may indicate difficulties in organizing larger-scale attacks.
On Monday, two people were killed when a cluster munition struck a construction site in central Israel. Another person was seriously wounded in a separate strike in the same region, while several additional impact sites caused damage.
A cluster bomb is a weapon that disperses dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions over a wide area, designed to strike multiple targets simultaneously. Critics argue that the submunitions cannot reliably distinguish between military and civilian areas and often fail to detonate, leaving unexploded ordnance that can kill civilians years later.
While they are banned by the Convention on Cluster Munitions of 2008, several countries, including the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, and Iran, have never ratified the treaty and are not party to it.
Thirteen Israelis have been killed in the Iranian barrages.