Several locations in Israel were directly hit by Iranian missiles on Thursday (19), including a major hospital in the south of the country, prompting Israeli leaders to sternly warn 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 shock cases. The attack caused significant damage to the hospital’s former surgical wing, which had been preemptively evacuated several days earlier, according to the statement. Videos shared online showed destroyed hospital rooms and black smoke billowing from the site.
Iranian state media claimed the missile had targeted a nearby military site and denied intentionally hitting the hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation for the attack.
“This morning, the terrorist tyrants of Iran launched missiles against Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and against a civilian population in the center of the country,” he said on social media. “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described the attack as a “war crime” and said that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “cannot continue to exist.”
Other missiles hit a high-rise building and other residential structures near Tel Aviv.
Katz said that he and Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli military to intensify its attacks on strategic and governmental targets in Tehran, as part of a broader effort to undermine the Iranian regime.
The Israeli military states that more than 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones have been launched against Israeli territory since the conflict began on Friday (13). As of Wednesday morning (18), Israeli authorities reported 24 dead and 838 injured, including 11 in serious condition and dozens with moderate or minor injuries.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency service, reported that three people were in serious condition due to Thursday’s (19) explosions, including an elderly person and two women. Another 42 civilians were injured by shrapnel or blasts, and 18 others were hurt while rushing to shelters.
Israel’s attacks on Iran, in turn, have killed more than 200 people, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. But an independent group called the Human Rights Activists News Agency claims to have tallied 639 deaths in Iran, based on nongovernmental sources.
Israel also continued its attacks on Iran overnight Thursday, with the Israeli military stating that the strike hit the Arak heavy-water reactor. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that the site—which it called the “Khondab (former Arak) heavy-water research reactor”—”was not operational and did not contain nuclear material,” so there was no risk of “radiological effects.”
It was the latest action targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure since Israel launched its surprise attack seven days ago, amid growing expectations that the United States may intervene militarily in Iran.
President Trump has so far refused to say whether the U.S. would join Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We are the only ones who have the capability to do it—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office after an unrelated event on Wednesday.
“I have ideas about what to do. I like to make the final decision one second before the right moment, because things change, especially with war,” he said. Earlier in the week, he demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender.”
Khamenei warned on Wednesday that any U.S. military intervention would bring “irreversible consequences.” In a nationally televised speech, the Iranian leader said the nation would not surrender and would resist an “imposed war” in the same way it would resist an “imposed peace.”
In his statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said the United States is “participating in the defense of Israel’s skies and cities with THAAD missile batteries in Israel, Aegis ships off the Israeli coast, and its pilots fighting alongside ours to shoot down drones.”
In an interview with NPR that day, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the country would welcome interventions from “nations”—without naming the U.S.—and “anything that helps completely eradicate the Iranian nuclear program.”
As the conflicts and rhetoric appear to intensify, some countries are calling for restraint. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are set to meet with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva on Friday.
The three European countries played a role in negotiations over a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. President Trump said the deal was too favorable to Iran and withdrew the United States from it during his first term.
“All parties must show restraint, refrain from steps that lead to further escalation in the region, and return to diplomacy,” the European countries said in a joint statement.
Source: npr.org By Rebecca Rosman