Typically, Iranian ballistic missiles have 500 to 1,000 kilograms of explosives in them and strike one target, causing significant damage there and to the immediate surroundings.

A view of an Iranian missile after it fell near Qamishli International Airport, near the Turkish border in the Qamishli district of Hasakah, Syria, on March 4, 2026, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
(photo credit: Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Fifty percent of the ballistic missiles that Iran has fired on Israel during the current war have been cluster munitions, the IDF Home Front Command said on Tuesday.

This is a shift from the June 2025 war with Iran, when occasionally the missiles were built of cluster munitions, but most were not.

Typically, Iranian ballistic missiles have 500 to 1,000 kilograms of explosives in them and strike one target, causing significant damage there and to the immediate surroundings.

However, cluster munitions might contain dozens of smaller eight-kilogram bombs which spread out over a 10-kilometer square radius.

On one hand, each hit from a cluster munition causes less damage than a full single ballistic missile hit.

Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli center coastal city of Netanya amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on March 9, 2026. (credit: Jack GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

On the other hand, each hit can still be deadly, can penetrate multiple floors in a single building, and if such a missile breaks apart before it’s shot down, can cause a wider number of dangerous impact areas.

IDF faces criticism of overusing missile alerts, disrupting routines

While discussing the issue, the IDF was pressed about criticism that in recent days it has repeatedly sent millions of Israelis into bomb shelters and safe rooms when Iran has only fired a single missile, which was very unlikely to have endangered so many people in different locations at once.

The IDF explained that its “polygon,” its algorithm for evaluating which cities to warn based on the estimated trajectory of a ballistic missile, after such a missile is launched from Iran, errs on the side of saving lives, even if it inconveniences people in their daily routines.

That said, the IDF said that whenever it can, it does exclude certain parts of the country from receiving warnings where the chances of them being targeted are very low.

Each launch also includes an assessment of the specific warhead and the size of the explosives it carries.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post