Though Iran’s large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel at the beginning of the month was of a different order of magnitude, it too appears to have been more damaging than was initially acknowledged.

It was judged at first by the number of casualties it caused – only one person, a Palestinian in the West Bank, was believed to have been killed. But the impact on buildings was greater than initially acknowledged.

Israel’s tax authority said on Sunday it had received 2,200 damage claims relating to civilian buildings following the Iranian 1 October 2024 attack, and a further 300 for vehicles and contents, taking the total damage estimate to 150m to 200m shekels (£31m to £41m).

In Hod Hasharon, north-east of Tel Aviv, more than 1,000 homes were damaged, some impacted by a shockwave from a missile that smashed into an open area nearby.

Against such a backdrop, and with Israel expected to retaliate against Iran soon, it is not surprising that the US announced it would deploy one of its seven specialised Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) systems in Israel, and a crew of nearly 100 US troops.

THAAD is designed to defend against ballistic missiles, and will line up alongside Israel’s Arrow 2 and 3 and David’s Sling long and medium range defence systems.