An Iranian missile struck a major hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, causing injuries and “significant damage,” officials said.
Separate Iranian attacks hit a high-rise apartment building in Tel Aviv and other targets in central Israel, injuring at least 40 people, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service.
At the same time, Israel struck Iran's heavy water reactor at Arak, its latest attack on the country's growing nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise series of Israeli airstrikes targeting military targets, senior officers and nuclear scientists.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been intercepted by Israel's multi-layered air defense system, which monitors incoming threats and shoots down missiles aimed at populated areas and critical infrastructure.
The rocket hit the Soroka Medical Center, which has more than 1,000 beds and serves approximately one million residents of southern Israel.
The hospital said in a statement that several areas of the center had sustained damage and that the emergency department was treating a few minor injuries. The hospital is closed to all new patients except for life-threatening cases.
Last week, many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans, converting underground parking lots into hospital floors and moving patients underground, especially those on ventilators or who are difficult to move quickly.
At the same time, Iranian state television reported an attack on the Arak facility, saying there was “no radiation danger.”
An Iranian state television reporter, broadcasting live from the nearby town of Khondab, said all residents of the site had been evacuated and there had been no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel warned of an intention to attack the site and called on people to leave the area.
The Israeli military said Thursday a series of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other parts of Iran, without giving details.
The strikes came a day after Iran's supreme leader rejected US demands for surrender and warned that any American military intervention would cause them “irreparable damage”.
The Israeli operation is already targeting Iran's enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge plants near Tehran
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
