Iranian missile slams into Israeli hospital in latest wave of attacks

Irish Daily Mirror

5 hours ago

An Iranian ballistic missile has slammed into southern Israel's main hospital - causing "extensive damage" and injuring dozens of people.
The Soroka Medical Centre, which has more than 1,000 beds and provides care to around one million Israelis, was struck when Iran unleashed a volley of missiles on its foe this morning, with a high-rise apartment block in Tel Aviv also hit.
It comes after Donald Trump reportedly approved attack plans against the Islamic Republic. He is said to be holding off on giving the final order to see whether Tehran will be threatened into abandoning its nuclear programme.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators on Wednesday that options were being discussed in the White House 'Situation Room' - despite the move being seen as an action that could risk dragging America into a wider war in the Middle East.
Trump - whose online demand for Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" prompted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to warn of "irreparable damage" to the United States - told reporters at the White House that he may or may not order an airstrike on Iran - saying "nobody knows what I'm going to do."
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While Iran's air force and other conventional military assets are no match for the US, it does have a few tricks up its sleeve that could make the Americans suffer for getting involved.
Iran's power lies in proxy warfare and asymmetric attacks rather than direct confrontation, so we could see Tehran activating its proxy forces in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen to target US bases across the region.
While Israel has dealt a crushing blow to most of these outfits over recent months and even forced Lebanon's Hezbollah into a peace treaty, the Iraqi PMF is a considerable fighting force of 200,000 soldiers that could be unleashed on the numerous US military bases in their country. The Yemeni Houthi militia is an outfit of roughly the same size, which has already struck targets for Iran during the course of the war.
Iran's ace in the hole is the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, which it could use to disrupt global trade and target US tankers or military vessels.
It could also activate agents to carry out terror attacks against US embassies, contractors or other allies in the Middle East, but would be unlikely to do so on American soil.
Iran has threatened to teach the "agressors a lesson" should the US involve itself in the conflict.
The comments made by deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi came as he warned the US not to intervene in supporting Israel.
He went on to say: "All necessary options are on the table."
A human rights group monitoring deaths in Iran says that at least 639 people have been killed since last Friday.
An additional 1,329 people were injured, the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists said.
The group said 263 of the fatalities were civilians, while 154 were military personnel.
The rights group has stepped in as Iran has not been offering regular updates on the death toll, and is known to downplay its casualties.
Reports emerging from Israel say that a hospital in the country's south has been struck with a ballistic missile.
The strike left two people with serious injuries, while another 40 people were wounded.
Iran's state-run media outlets claim the primary targets were actually an IDF intelligence HQ which is next to it.
The Foreign Secretary is set to meet his US counterpart in Washington after Donald Trump said he was mulling whether to join Israeli strikes against Iran.
David Lammy and secretary of state Marco Rubio will discuss the Middle East as potential American involvement in the conflict looms.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer convened a Cobra meeting of senior ministers on Wednesday to give updates on ongoing diplomatic efforts and UK support for British nationals in the region.
The high-level meeting came on the heels of his return from the G7 summit in Canada, at which he and other world leaders reiterated their "commitment to peace and stability".
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." Israel also lifted some restrictions on daily life, suggesting the missile threat from Iran on its territory was easing.
The Israeli military said Thursday's round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating.
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 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.
Israel's military has warned people to evacuate the area around Iran's Arak heavy water reactor.
The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that proceeded strikes.
The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran.
Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, a human rights group says.
Israeli military spokesman Brig Gen Effie Defrin told a news conference Wednesday that Israel launched three waves of aerial attacks in the last 24 hours, deploying dozens of warplanes to strike over 60 targets in Tehran and western Iran.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military struck the headquarters of Iran's internal security forces, without specifying the agency or location.
Images show people holding banners as they protest the Israeli strikes on Iran and any potential US involvement in the conflict during a "No War on Iran" demonstration outside the White House in Washington, DC.
The pictures emerge as Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrats on several key committees said in a joint statement Wednesday evening that they are "deeply concerned about a lack of preparation, strategy, and clearly defined objectives" amid uncertainty about whether President Trump will decide to strike Iran.
Explosions were heard in Tehran throughout the day Wednesday as Israel said its warplanes pounded Iran in three waves of strikes. Less than a week into the conflict, Israel now says its aircraft have free rein over the Iranian capital's skies.
Iran launched small barrages of missiles at Israel with no reports of casualties, and Israel has eased some restrictions for its civilians. Meanwhile, fear grips the Iranian capital as the streets are empty, businesses closed and communications patchy at best. Thousands have fled.
US President Donald Trump would not say Wednesday whether he has decided to order a US strike on Iran. 'I may do it, I may not do it,' Trump said in an exchange with reporters at the White House. 'I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.'
High-ranking European diplomats will hold nuclear talks with Iran in Switzerland on Friday, according to a European official familiar with the plans.
Senior European diplomats are set to hold nuclear talks with Iran on Friday, an official has said.
The high-ranking officials from Germany, France and the United Kingdom as well as the European Union;s top diplomat will gather for the meeting in Switzerland.
That's according to a European official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment on the matter publicly.
As the world awaits a US decision on whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran and with Supreme Leader dodging the onslaught, many are left wondering if it will it lead to a much bigger conflict. Trump had demanded Iran's "immediate surrender" as he hinted there could be plans to assassinate the country's national and spiritual patriarch.
But why is America so involved in Israel's conflicts? Here, the Mirror answers five key questions on the escalating Israel-Iran conflict, its origins and causes and what any Middle East crisis could mean for the wider world.
Click the link below to find out all you need to know on the piossibility of a wider war.
Late on Tuesday, Trump told senior aides he had approved attack plans for Iran, three people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
However, the US president said he was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear programme, it has been claimed.
According to the New York Times, a senior Iranian official from the Foreign Ministry, who asked not to be named, said the country would accept Trump's offier to meet soon.
The official said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would accept a meeting to discuss a ceasefire with Israel.
However, Trump indicated he wants talks to focus on Iran's nuclear program.
A Situation Room meeting Donald Trump called earlier today has begun, a senior White House official has said.
This evening, the Israeli military said it had "completed a series of strikes in Tehran! aimed at more than 20 military targets linked to the "Iranian regime's nuclear weapons development project."
The targets are said to include weapons production and centrifuge production sites and research and development locations.
Two US officials said a government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave Israel on Wednesday, shortly before US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on X that the embassy was making plans for evacuation flights and ships for private American citizens.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements.
There was no indication of how many diplomats and family members left on the flight.
This image shows a missile being launched from Iran to Israel.
The conflict between the two countries is now on its sixth day and shows no sign of stopping.
The United Nations Security Council will hold another emergency meeting on Iran on Friday.
The meeting will take place in New York at 3pm UK time.
Last Friday, the first emergency meeting was held.
Sirens sounded in Israeli communities in the annexed Golan Heights after a drone infiltrated the area late on Wednesday, the military said.
It was intercepted by the air force.
For the second day in a row, communications and internet service has been cut off in south and central Gaza because of an outage caused by Israeli attacks on a key piece of infrastructure, according to the Ramallah-based Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
Meanwhile up north in Gaza City, Al-Quds Hospital was able to report that it received the bodies of four people and treated more than 54 wounded on Wednesday morning following Israeli shelling across neighbourhoods in the city, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Since the war began in October 2023, a total of 55,637 people have been killed and nearly 130,000 others were injured, Gaza's Health Ministry says.
The toll includes 5,334 people killed and more than 17,000 wounded since Israel ended a ceasefire three months ago.
David Lammy is travelling to Washington for talks with his US counterpart Marco Rubio.
The British Foreign Secretary will meet with the US secretary of state after President Donald Trump said he was considering whether to join Israeli strikes against Iran.
Senators will receive a classified briefing early next week amid uncertainty over whether President Trump might order a US strike on Iran, according to an aide to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Schumer said earlier on Wednesday that he had been briefed on Iran, but that he was requesting a classified meeting for all senators. The aide requested anonymity to discuss the classified briefing.
The Senate could also vote as soon as next week on a resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would require congressional approval for the use of US military force against Iran.
Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister spoke to the Emir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani this evening.
"The leaders began by discussing the developments in the Middle East in recent days, and both echoed the need for de-escalation and diplomacy.
"Underscoring the deep defence and security relationship between the two countries, the Prime Minister reiterated the UK's support for Qatar and leaders discussed how both countries could further support regional stability.
"Turning to Gaza, the Prime Minister reiterated the intolerable situation on the ground and underlined the UK's support for an immediate ceasefire. The leaders agreed to stay in close touch."
Trump said the US could destroy Iran's Fordow nuclear site - but he hasn't made a decision on this yet, reporter Laura Rozen tweeted this evening.
The US president told journalists at the White House: "We are the only ones capable of doing it but that doesn't mean we are going to be doing it at all."
Donald Trump has said he will have a meeting in the Situation Room of the White house "in a little while" to discuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
BBC journalist Bernd Debusmann Jr said the US president told reporters: "We're going to see. I hate to see death."
Shelby Talcott, the White House Correspondent for Semafor, said Trump has made no final decisions on Iran yet but "has ideas of what to do."
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said he is "profoundly alarmed by the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East between Israel and Iran" as he called for an immediate ceasefire in the region.
He said in a statement: "I reiterate my call for immediate de-escalation leading to a ceasefire. I strongly appeal to all to avoid any further internationalisation of the conflict.
"Any additional military interventions could have enormous consequences, not only for those involved but for the whole region and for international peace and security at large.
"Diplomacy remains the best and only way to address concerns regarding Iran's nuclear programme and regional security issues."
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to continue speaking to regional leaders later on Wednesday, after holding an emergency Cobra meeting.
The high-level meeting followed the Prime Minister's return from the G7 summit in Canada at which he and other world leaders reiterated their "commitment to peace and stability".
While talking to reporters at the White House earlier today, Trump issued a thinly-veiled threat at Iran as he joked about joining Israel in attacking the Middle Eastern nation.
After being asked by a reporter whether he was moving closer - or believes the US is moving closer - to striking Iranian nuclear facilities, he said: "Well, obviously I can't say that, right? You don't seriously think I am going to answer that question?"
He then seemingly laughed the question off before saying: "I mean, you don't even know if I may do it. I may do it. I may not do it."
And he issued an apparent threat, adding: "Nobody knows what I'm going to do."
In a video address to Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed appreciation for Trump's support in the conflict, calling him "a great friend of Israel" and praising US help defending Israel's skies.
"We speak constantly, including last night," he said on Wednesday. "We had a very warm conversation."