HAIFA (VINnews) — A family of four was killed Sunday when an Iranian missile scored a direct hit on their residential building in Haifa, collapsing multiple floors as they sought shelter in a stairwell.

The victims were identified Monday day as Lena Ostrovsky Gershovitz, 70, her husband Vladimir Gershovitz, 73, their son Dima Gershovitz, 42, and Dima’s wife Lucille-Jane Gershovitz, 30. Rescue teams recovered their bodies from the rubble after an 18-hour operation.

Just hours before the strike, Dima had brought his father home from a prolonged hospitalization at Rambam Hospital. The family, fearing the elderly couple could not reach the shelter in time, took cover in the stairwell of their first-floor apartment. All four were crushed when the upper floors collapsed onto them.

Lilach Levin, a friend of the family, recounted the tragedy through tears: “A rare family, in a split second everyone’s lives were cut short.”

Levin added that Dima “managed to bring Vladimir back from the hospital, and unfortunately the missile hit the residence and that’s how all four of them were killed.”

Lena Ostrovsky, a veteran voice development teacher at the Nissan Nativ acting studio in Jerusalem, had taught generations of actors for three decades. The actors’ organization MASHAM expressed deep sorrow, describing her as a “legendary” instructor who nurtured students “with dedication, professionalism, and above all, great love.”

Dima, a software engineer at JFrog for the past nine years, was remembered as a gifted individual who studied at the Technion in Haifa and later at Reichman University in Herzliya. “From childhood he stood out as a gifted child, a little genius,” Levin said. “He was fluent in 11 languages, played the piano at a high level, painted, loved to cook, and expressed creativity and excellence in every field he touched.”

Lucille-Jane, originally from the Philippines, met Dima while he was traveling there. The couple married in April 2012. “For years she was afraid to come to Israel, but she chose to follow their love,” Levin said. “They dreamed of a family and children — dreams that will no longer come true.”

Vladimir was retired. The family originally immigrated from Kiev, and Dima was their only son.

According to the IDF, the missile disintegrated in the air after an interception failed. Fragments struck the six-story building, causing the top three floors to collapse onto the lower levels where the Gershovitz family lived. The four were on the first floor when the siren sounded; the nearest protected space required leaving the building.

The strike was part of Iran’s missile barrage on Israel.