Smokes rises from a building of the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran in Be’er Sheva, Israel on Thursday.
Leo Correa/AP
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Leo Correa/AP
Several sites across Israel sustained direct hits by Iranian missiles Thursday, including a major hospital in the country’s south, prompting sharp warnings from Israeli leaders that they would intensify attacks on “strategic targets” in Iran.
According to a statement from Soroka Medical Center, the largest hospital in southern Israel, several people were being treated for minor injuries and cases of shock. The strike caused extensive damage to the hospital’s old surgical wing, which was preemptively evacuated several days ago, according to the statement. Videos shared online showed shattered hospital rooms and black smoke pouring from the facility.
Iran’s state media claimed that the missile was aimed at a military target nearby and denied intentionally hitting the hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retribution for the attack.
“This morning, Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country,” he said in a post on X. “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the strike a war crime, and said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “will be held accountable for his crimes.”
“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of a fortified bunker and fires aimed shots at hospitals and residential buildings,” Katz wrote on X.
Other missiles hit a high-rise building and other residential buildings near Tel Aviv.
Katz said he and Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli military to intensify its strikes on strategic and government targets in Tehran, as part of a broader effort to undermine Iran’s regime.
The Israeli military says more than 400 rockets and hundreds of drones have been launched at Israeli territory since the conflict began. As of Wednesday morning, Israeli authorities reported 24 dead and 838 wounded, including 11 in serious condition and dozens more suffering moderate or light injuries.
Israel’s emergency services, Magen David Adom, said three people were currently in serious condition from Thursday’s blasts, including an elderly man and two women. An additional 42 civilians were wounded by shrapnel or blasts, and 18 more were hurt while running to shelters.
Israel’s strikes on Iran, meanwhile, have killed more than 200 people, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. But an independent group called the Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has counted 639 dead based on nongovernmental sources.
Israel also continued its strikes on Iran overnight into Thursday, with the Israeli military saying it struck the Arak heavy water reactor, a key facility in Iran’s nuclear program. It’s the latest move targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure since Israel launched its surprise attack seven days ago.
Khamenei warned on Wednesday that any U.S. military intervention would bring “irreversible consequences.” In a nationally broadcast address, the Iranian leader said the nation would not surrender, and would resist an “imposed war” just as it would resist an “imposed peace.”
President Trump on Wednesday declined to say whether the U.S. was inching closer to joining Israel in targeting Iran’s nuclear sites.
“You don’t seriously think I’m going to answer that question,” he told reporters. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
In an interview with NPR Wednesday, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the country would “welcome anything that helps eradicate the Iranian nuclear program completely,” but emphasized any decisions about U.S. involvement need to be made by Trump and his team.
NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi and Itay Stern contributed to this report from Tel Aviv
