11 hours ago
‘There Was a Massive Boom': Doctor Recounts Iranian Strike on Hospital
Large slabs of concrete were all that remained from what was once the top floor of the hospital building. Rubble and shattered glass blanketed the surrounding area, even hundreds of feet away. Melted plastic and burned wiring filled the air with a foul smell.
Hours after an Iranian missile hit part of the Soroka Medical Center, a major hospital complex in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Thursday, firefighters brought the blaze under control while rescue teams scoured the site and medical teams transferred patients to other facilities.
'There was a massive boom and blast wave,' said Dr. Vadim Bankovich, head of the Orthopedics Department, whose office faces the floor of the old surgical building that took a direct hit.
Shlomi Codish, the director general of the hospital, said that much of the building had been evacuated in recent days. Mr. Codish said that all patients and medical staff had been in protected spaces when the missile struck, and that the hospital was treating several patients with minor injuries.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed it had targeted Israeli military facilities next to the hospital, according to the Fars news agency, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. It offered no evidence for the claim, and Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the claim.
When he received an alert on his cell phone warning him of incoming missile fire, Dr. Bankovich said he and his team rushed to a windowless safe space, where patients at his department were already gathering. After leaving the safe space 10 minutes later, he found cabinets toppled, ceiling panels scattered on the ground, and medical devices shattered.
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