Iran Launches Massive Missiles Strike on Israel, Hitting Major Hospital and Causing Severe Damage to Other Civilian Centers

International Business Times

5 hours ago

Iran launched dozens of missiles at Israel on Thursday, targeting a major hospital and other civilian locations in the southern region, according to media reports. One of the missiles directly hit the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba — the main hospital in southern Israel with over 1,000 beds — sustaining severe damage, a video taken inside the facility shows.
"Dozens of ballistic missiles were launched at Israel in the last barrage from Iran, with several hits to civilian population centres (including the Soroka hospital in southern Israel)," a top Israeli military official told The New York Post. "IDF Homefront Command Search and Rescue teams have been dispatched to several reported impact sites."
Israel Showers Missiles
Several people were wounded in the strike, though the exact number of casualties was not immediately known. The missile assault followed an Israeli attack on Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state media reported.
The Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation warning on social media, showing a satellite image of the nuclear facility in the city of Arak. The plant was marked with a red circle highlighting the potential blast area.
"Dear citizens, for your safety and well-being, we urgently request that you immediately evacuate the designated area in Tehran's Area 18. Your presence in this area puts your life at risk," the IDF Farsi wrote on X.
Iran's state-run media reported that the facility had been completely evacuated prior to the strike.
The attacks on Thursday also hit several sites in Tehran and various other regions throughout Iran.
Arak houses heavy water nuclear reactors that generate plutonium as a byproduct — a substance that can potentially be used to make nuclear weapons, according to The Times of Israel.
Inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency visited the site on May 14 — just a month before the panel voted to declare Iran in violation of nuclear nonproliferation agreements.
No Stopping Israel
Over the past week of airstrikes, Israel has already hit several major uranium enrichment facilities across Iran, including those in Isfahan and Natanz, as part of its efforts to undermine the country's nuclear capabilities.
In addition, Israel has eliminated top Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, significantly damaging Iran's capacity to respond both militarily and through diplomatic channels.
President Donald Trump is currently weighing the extent to which the United States should get involved in what has, so far, remained a regional conflict.
"I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made a final — I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, because things change, especially with war. Things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other," Trump said prior to a meeting in the Situation Room on Wednesday.
Israel has requested that the United States supply a bunker-buster bomb to target Iran's fortified underground nuclear enrichment facility in Fordow.
At least 639 people — including 263 civilians — have been killed in Iran since Israel launched its bombing campaign last week, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights organization.
Meanwhile, in Israel, 24 people have been killed and hundreds have been injured as a result of retaliatory strikes by Iran, the Associated Press reported.