Latest news with #UrielBuso
Miami Herald
11 hours ago
- Health
- Miami Herald
Israeli hospital hit as Iranian missiles leave 2 dozen wounded
TEL AVIV, Israel - A hospital in the south of Israel was hit during a massive wave of Iranian missiles on Thursday. A missile struck the Soroka Hospital in the desert city of Beersheba, with reports saying that there was severe damage to the surgery ward. There were also strikes in other locations in Israel, including the Tel Aviv area, with more than 20 missiles fired. A total of at least 25 people were injured, including at least three seriously. Israeli Health Minister Uriel Buso described the hospital attack as a "terrorist attack that has crossed a red line" and termed it a war crime. According to initial reports, only a few people were slightly injured at the hospital. Iran's Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the target had been a military base and not a hospital. Israel's ynet online news outlet said one of the damaged buildings of the Soroka Hospital had been evacuated on Wednesday. "Luckily we cleared out one of the wards, otherwise they wouldn't be there anymore," a hospital worker said. "The ceiling fell on us, and the shock wave threw me away," he added. Tel Aviv's Sheba Hospital reported being struck by a falling missile fragment with slight damage reported. Many Israeli hospitals have taken patients into bomb shelters. The military said on social media that search and rescue teams were operating in several locations across the country where projectiles were reported to have fallen. Since the start of the conflict last week, a total of 639 people have been killed in Iran, including at least 263 civilians, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based group of Iranian activists. The organization relies on official data and local reports. In Israel, where countless shelters are available as places of refuge, there have so far been 24 deaths, all of whom were civilians, according to the Israeli side. ------------ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Israel attacks Iran's Arak nuclear reactor as Iran strikes Israeli hospital
A new wave of Iranian missiles has struck multiple sites across Israel, damaging a hospital, and Israel has attacked Iran's Arak heavy water nuclear reactor as the two countries trade fire for a seventh consecutive day. Rescue operations were under way on Thursday after an Iranian missile hit the Soroka Medical Center in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel. Iran said it was targeting a military site in the attack. Reports said the Iranian projectiles made impact in at least six other locations, including in Tel Aviv and two of its districts – Holon and Ramat Gan. Emergency crews said at least 50 people were injured, including four who were in critical condition. The Israeli army said its fighter jets struck dozens of sites in Iran, including the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor. The partially built reactor was originally called Arak and is now named Khondab. The military said it specifically targeted 'the structure of the reactor's core seal, which is a key component in plutonium production'. Iranian media reported air defences were activated in the area of the Khondab nuclear facility and two projectiles hit an area close to it. Officials told Iranian state TV that evacuations were made before the strikes and no risk of radiation or casualties was detected. There was no mention of any damage. The attacks were carried out as the two countries traded fire for a seventh day after Israel launched a major attack on Friday on Iranian military facilities and nuclear sites, killing senior military officials and top nuclear scientists. Iran responded to that attack with air strikes on Israel, and the conflict has since widened to include civilian targets, including residential areas and oil and gas facilities. Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel although most have been shot down by Israel's multitiered air defences. The Soroka Medical Center, which has more than 1,000 beds and provides services to about 1 million residents of southern Israel, said in a statement there was 'extensive damage' in several areas of the hospital and the emergency room was treating several minor injuries. The hospital was closed to all new patients except for life-threatening cases. Many hospitals in Israel have 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. 'This is a war crime committed by the Iranian regime,' Israeli Health Minister Uriel Buso was quoted as saying by Israeli Army Radio in reference to the attack on Soroka. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Iranian leaders they would pay 'a heavy price' for the attack. The Iranian news agency IRNA said the 'main target' of the Beersheba attack 'was the large [Israeli army] Command and Intelligence (IDF C4I) headquarters and the military intelligence camp in the Gav-Yam Technology Park'. The facility is next to the Soroka Medical Center, it said, claiming the health facility suffered only minor damage from the shockwave resulting from the missile strike. Tight military censorship in Israel means information about sites such as military and intelligence facilities are not released to the public. According to Israeli media reports, a building next to the hospital described as 'sensitive' sustained heavy damage. Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political commentator, told Al Jazeera that Israeli authorities were focusing on the hospital attack and trying to send a 'message that the Iranians target hospitals'. 'Of course, Israelis target hospitals as well. It's important to mention that there really are very sensitive installations and headquarters very near to the hospital because Israel places its military headquarters in the midst of civilian neighbourhoods and towns,' he added, speaking from Tel Aviv. Iranian state TV, meanwhile, reported the attack on the Arak site, saying there was 'no radiation danger whatsoever'. 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 on Thursday morning that it would attack the facility and urged the public to leave. The Israeli military said its latest round of air strikes also targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating. The strikes came a day after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected United States calls for a surrender and warned that any US military involvement in the conflict would cause 'irreparable damage to them'. A Washington, DC-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran in the past week of air strikes and more than 1,300 have been wounded. Iran has fired about 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel, killing at least 24 people and wounding hundreds.
The National
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Israel accused of 'hypocrisy' after calling hospital strike 'war crime'
An Iranian missile slammed into the Soroka Medical Centre in southern Israel early on Thursday, injuring people and causing 'extensive damage', according to officials. Iranian state media reports that the missile strike targeted a military site next to the hospital and not the facility itself. Separate Iranian strikes hit a high-rise apartment building in Tel Aviv and other sites in central Israel, with at least 40 people injured according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. READ MORE: Israeli strikes kill 72 Palestinians, 29 waiting for aid trucks Israel, meanwhile, has carried out strikes on Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, its latest attack on the country's sprawling nuclear programme, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli air strikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists. Israel's deputy foreign affairs minister Sharren Haskel has called Iran's strike on the hospital "deliberate" and "criminal", while the Israeli health minister Uriel Buso said it was a war crime. But Richard McNeil-Willson, who lectures in the Middle Eastern studies department at Edinburgh University, said while striking a hospital is a war crime, the country's ministers are displaying hypocrisy given Israel has 'time and again' attacked hospitals in Gaza. 'The bombing of a hospital is a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Convention, but it is a war crime that the Israeli state has committed time and again,' he told The National. 'Israel has not just targeted hospitals but has sought to wipe out the entire healthcare system in Gaza, in an area it is blockading and bombarding, amidst mass population displacement and acute shortages of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and shelter. 'Concern over the striking of the Soroka Medical Centre in Israel should be contrasted with the Israeli destruction of Al Ahli hospital, the siege of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, and attacks on all 36 hospitals in Gaza. READ MORE: Israel's aggression makes mockery of self defence claims 'It must be contrasted with the killing of 227 journalists, more than any conflict in recent history; and with the scholasticide of schools, universities, and the destruction of all state infrastructure in Gaza. It must be contrasted with the entrapment, displacement and targeting of over two million Gazans in a genocide again. 'The mass murder of civilians by the Israeli State has been met by either total indifference or outright support by many politicians - including by the UK Government - and demonstrates the racism and hypocrisy not just at the heart of the Israeli state and Zionism, but in European and Western governments.' Israeli forces have killed 70 Palestinians on Wednesday, including people waiting for aid trucks. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is to meet his US counterpart Marco Rubio today to discuss the situation in the Middle East as Donald Trump continues to consider joining Israeli strikes against Iran. Israel's campaign has also targeted Iran's enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have 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 1300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. The Arak heavy water reactor is 155 miles south-west 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. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14. Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost 'continuity of knowledge' about Iran's heavy water production – meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile.
