Photo: United Hatzalah
On Thursday morning, an Iranian missile hit the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, injuring dozens of people and severely damaging the hospital building, The Jerusalem Post reports.
According to Israeli doctors, several parts of the hospital building, including the old surgical wing, were heavily damaged by the missile. One 80-year-old man is in serious condition with injuries from the explosion and debris, and three other people were seriously injured. The rest of the patients were evacuated.
The Soroka Medical Centre serves about 1 million residents of southern Israel, Politico notes.
The attack has already been commented on by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which tried to justify the missile attack by claiming that the hospital was allegedly located near a military command and intelligence centre.
In addition to the strike on the medical centre, other Iranian missiles hit a high-rise building and several residential buildings in at least two districts near Tel Aviv. According to the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, at least 40 people were injured in the attacks.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be brought to justice for the attack.
He also said that, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he had ordered the military to “intensify strikes on strategic targets in Iran and on energy infrastructure in Tehran to eliminate threats to the state of Israel and shake the ayatollahs’ regime”.
According to The Times of Israel, on Thursday morning, Iran fired about 30 ballistic missiles at Israel.
