An MP who is a strong pro-Israel advocate has described "incredibly dramatic" scenes he witnessed as Iranian missiles headed into Israel during a live broadcast.

Jim Shannon had been speaking to members of Israeli group Elnet via the online video service Zoom at the moment when the regime in Iran sent between 180 and 200 missiles towards Israel on Tuesday evening.

The group Elnet had helped to host the Strangford MP in Easter when he visited southern Israel, meeting hostage families and the scenes of the Hamas attacks on Israelis.

"I had a number of questions to ask [over the video]" said Mr Shannon, who had been speaking to an Israeli army reservist and PR man at the time.

placeholder image — This picture taken from the West Bank city of Hebron shows projectiles above the Israeli city of Ashdod on October 1, 2024. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a missile attack under way against Israel on October 1 was in response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as that of the Hamas leader. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

"I saw him looking over his shoulders on the screen. And he says: 'Guys maybe I'm going to have to cut this short...' – and he was away.

"The guy who was organising it has an alarm on his phone, and this went off live in the Zoom meeting, to tell you to go to your bunker or seek protection immediately.

"And with that, the Zoom line went dead.

"I've sent them a message along the lines: 'I hope everyone is safe'."

He hadn't heard anything back at time of writing, but understands that casualties had not been heavy (although there was a report that a man, originally from Gaza, had been killed by shrapnel in Jericho in the West Bank).

The Iranian attacks on Israel were in support of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is a key ally of Iran.

As to what comes next, Mr Shannon, who has often been an outspoken voice on Israeli affairs, said: "The Iranians are the reasons why Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis exist.

"If you take Iran out of the equation you take away the potential of those three terrorist groups to do much.

"So I think the issue for the free world has to be: How do we deal with Iran?

"It's at a different level this time. I think there's absolutely no doubt Israel will take action against Iran – justifiable action.

"You just don't fire missiles toward Israel and expect them to all land in the sea or the desert. There's a purpose for that. Iran needs to be held accountable for that.

"I'm pretty sure the Israelis will have the support they need from the USA, UK, NATO, France and other countries as well.

"This was an attack on freedom."

The Israel-Iran escalation is just the latest in a series of events since October last year, when Hamas members stormed into southern Israel, killing soldiers and civilians alike – totalling around 1,200 fatalities.

It is not known how many tens of thousands of people have been killed in the subsequent Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Meanwhile the UN reports that "close to 100% of Gaza’s population now live in poverty, compared with 64% before the onset of escalated hostilities, according to the World Bank".