TEL AVIV -- For Aviad Apirion, a 40-year-old teacher in a special needs school, the war with Iran has meant sleeping every night at an underground railway station to avoid the danger of incoming Iranian ballistic missiles.
And he’s got plenty of company. The platform of the gleaming new station in a Tel Aviv suburb is crammed with mattresses -- and people of all nations.
“It's like a fairground for the kids here. For me, it's quite tricky but I prefer my children to be in a safe place, so I am with them here. I have a safe room at home, but I don't trust it since these are ballistic missiles. I don't feel safe,” Apirion told RFE/RL.
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Sleeping In A Tel Aviv Subway Station Takes Its Toll
Apirion has slept here with his two children, aged 7 and 9, since the first night of the war. As we speak, we’re surrounded by other kids, who bombard our reporting team with questions.
“They all became friends with each other here,” said Apirion, with a chuckle that belied the anxiety of wartime circumstances. The children amuse themselves by playing on the elevators, running freely around the station, or on their phones.
“You also have here people of many faiths. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists,” Apirion said.
Missile Alerts On Phones
A few steps down the platform, a group of Indian men are sat around a chess board. Some of them work in Israel’s large care sector, others in construction. Sooriya Narayana Reddy told RFE/RL he arrived in this country a month ago and hopes to receive political asylum, without elaborating.
“Sleeping here, there are big spaces [for us]. We are near to our room, actually. That’s why we came here,” he said, his words interrupted by the blaring of another incoming missile alert on our phone apps.
Passing the time before bedtime.
Usually, this would be a sign to stop what we’re doing and head for a shelter. But we’re already in one, so the conversation continues. The big advantage to sleeping down here, Narayana Reddy said, is uninterrupted sleep.
“We are sleeping peacefully. We turn off our phones overnight,” he said.
Under Israeli law, all modern residential buildings must come with a purpose-built shelter. But in Tel Aviv, there are many old buildings. Public shelters are available but are far less spacious and have sparse interiors, often without Internet access or cellphone signal.
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Israeli Air Defense Dominance Shapes War Strategy
By contrast, the subway network, known as Tel Aviv Light Rail, dates from 2023 and is in mint condition. All trains have been stopped since Israel launched mass air strikes on Iran on February 28 so that people can sleep at the stations.
The network was also used for this purpose during the 12-day war that Israel and the United States fought against Iran in June 2025.
But still, it’s not home.
One level above the platform, a group of Moldovans are camping out in the ticket hall. A woman who identified herself only as Olessya was with her partner and her pet parrot, which hopped between her head and her shoulder.
'It's Unsettling And Scary For Everyone'
“We’re not sleeping so well here. Not like at home. It’s cold, a concrete [floor], we’re getting sick. We’re not eating in good conditions. We're worried about what's happening outside. It's unsettling and scary for everyone,” she said.
Olessya is not sleeping well.
“We’ve slept here since February 28 because our house doesn’t have a shelter, so we have to come here,” she added.
Nearby, another man identifies himself simply as Yousuf. A 19-year-old refugee from Cote D’Ivoire, he said he had spent most of his life in Israel and was waiting for citizenship.
“I never sleep here. Some of my friends do,” he said. “People are sleeping here because of the war. I don’t know when it’s going to end, but I hope it’s soon.”
This is a sentiment many people agree with.
SEE ALSO: Iranian Jews In Israel Speak Of Pain And Hope Amid Conflict“I am afraid for my loved ones,” said Apirion, the special needs teacher, as we parted. “It's the same fear for all of us, for every person. We want to protect our family, our home, our friends -- people that we love.”
In Israel, which has state-of-the-art air defenses, there have been 14 civilian fatalities as of March 9. Nine of these were in a single strike by an Iranian ballistic missile at Beit Shemesh, about 30 kilometers west of Jerusalem, after a direct hit on a housing block.
Drones and rockets are also being fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group regarded as a terrorist organization by both Israel and the United States.