In the Gulf War in 1991 , Tel Aviv was attacked by Scud missiles from Iraq . Iraq hoped to provoke an Israeli military response , which could have destroyed the US – Arab alliance . The United States pressured Israel not to retaliate , and after Israel acquiesced , the US and Netherlands rushed Patriot missiles to defend against the attacks , but they proved largely ineffective . Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities continued to be hit by Scuds throughout the war , and every city in the Tel Aviv area except for Bnei Brak was hit . A total of 74 Israelis died as a result of the Iraqi attacks , mostly from suffocation and heart attacks , while approximately 230 Israelis were injured . Extensive property damage was also caused , and some 4,000 Israelis were left homeless . It was feared that Iraq would fire missiles filled with nerve agents or sarin . As a result , the Israeli government issued gas masks to its citizens . When the first Iraqi missiles hit Israel , some people injected themselves with an antidote for nerve gas . The inhabitants of the southeastern suburb of HaTikva erected an angel-monument as a sign of their gratitude that " it was through a great miracle , that many people were preserved from being killed by a direct hit of a Scud rocket . " Since the First Intifada , Tel Aviv has suffered from Palestinian political violence . The first suicide attack in Tel Aviv occurred on 19 October 1994 , on the Line 5 bus , when a bomber killed 22 civilians and injured 50 as part of a Hamas suicide campaign . On 6 March 1996 , another Hamas suicide bomber killed 13 people ( 12 civilians and 1 soldier ) , many of them children , in the Dizengoff Center suicide bombing . Three women were killed by a Hamas terrorist in the Café Apropo bombing on 27 March 1997
Dizengoff Center suicide bombing
Dizengoff Center suicide bombing
Tel Aviv