Summary

It begins with a siren, a deep, pulsating wail tearing through the night over Tel Aviv. It is 3:42 in the morning. A university student jolts awake and rushes to a reinforced room. A young couple gathers their infant and runs for the stairwell. An elderly man descends slowly toward a neighborhood shelter. They each have 90 seconds or less to get to safety. Since 7 October 2023, Israel’s Home Front Command has issued over 60,000 rocket alerts and more than 7000 UAV alerts nationwide. For much of the population, this interval, often shorter near border regions, marks the boundary between safety and danger. Beyond acute threat, these alerts impose a repeated physiological stressor that intrudes into one of the most vulnerable human states: sleep.