Israel says Iran supreme leader 'cannot continue to exist' in chilling warning
An Israeli minister has warned Iran's Supreme Leader cannot continue to exist if the nation is "to achieve all its goals" after a direct attack on Tel Aviv. Israel's defence minister Israel Katz issued the threat against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying: the military "has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist."
The comments come after the latest missile barrage from Iran damaged a major hospital and hit a high-rise and several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv, after the city's Iron Dome defence system was penetrated. At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service.
Black smoke rose from the Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba as emergency teams evacuated patients. There were no serious injuries in the strike on the hospital.
The hospital said the main impact was on an old surgery building that had been evacuated in recent days. After the strike, the medical facility was closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases, it said. Soroka has over 1,000 beds and provides services to around 1 million residents of Israel's south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the strike on the hospital and vowed a response, saying: "We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran."
Two doctors told The Associated Press that the missile struck almost immediately after air raid sirens went off, causing a loud explosion that could be heard from a safe room. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country's sprawling nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists. Last night US officials claimed Donald Trump vetoed Israel's plot to kill Khamenei.
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.
Many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and moving patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.
Israel also boasts a fortified, subterranean blood bank that kicked into action after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal to halt it from being used to produce plutonium. "The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development," the military said.
Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran's nuclear program.
Iranian state TV said there was "no radiation danger whatsoever" from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.
Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area.
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