Israel-Iran war: Iran strikes southern Israel’s largest hospital in latest missile attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran will “pay a heavy price” after it targeted southern Israel’s largest hospital in missile strikes this morning, as conflict between the two countries enters its seventh day.

“This morning, Iran’s terrorist dictators fired missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva and at civilians in the centre of the country. We will make the tyrants in Tehran pay a heavy price,” Mr Netanyahu said in a post on X.

The Soroka Medical Centre is the main hospital in Israel’s south. Israel’s military said residents ran for shelter Thursday morning as sirens were blaring to alert them to a missile launch by Iran.

“Several hits were identified as a result of the missile barrage — one of them hitting the largest hospital in southern Israel,” the IDF said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Soroka Medical Centre in Beer Sheba said the hospital suffered “extensive damage” in different areas and people had been wounded in the attack. The hospital has requested that people not come for treatment.

The the medical centre has over 1000 beds and provides services to the approximately 1 million residents of Israel’s south, according to the hospital’s website.

The hospital had reportedly just yesterday evacuated an old surgical building that took a direct hit, with a doctor on site saying it was “a great miracle” the building was empty.

Another missile hit a high-rise building and several other residential buildings in at least two sites near Tel Aviv. At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.

Iran’s military leaders had vowed earlier this week that Israel would soon see more attacks, after Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’ on Friday with a mission to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities in a bid to prevent them from developing an atomic bomb.

“The operations carried out so far have been solely for the purpose of warning and deterrence,” Gen. Abdul Rahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said in a video.

“The punishment operation will be carried out soon.”

The hospital strike came as Israel attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state television said Thursday.

Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area. The Israeli military said Thursday’s round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating. It later said Iran fired a new salvo of missiles at Israel and told the public to take shelter.

Israel’s seventh day of airstrikes on Iran came a day after Iran’s supreme leader rejected US calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them”.

US President Donald Trump targeted Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a post on Truth Social, writing: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least for now”.

“But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin!”

In a final post, he wrote: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”.

Hours later, Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei took to X: “We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime”.

“We will show the Zionists no mercy,” he wrote.

Mr Trump has now reportedly informed senior aides that he has approved military plans targeting Iran, but was delaying giving the final order to see whether Tehran would abandon its nuclear program. Iran’s heavily defended Fordow enrichment facility is considered a potential US target, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and six nuclear scientists.

A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel, causing heavy damage.

With files from The Associated Press’ news director for the Gulf and Iran