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Israel’s Defence Minister, Isarel Katz, said on Thursday that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “can no longer be allowed to exist” after an Israeli hospital was hit by an Iranian missile attack that wounded at least 47 people and struck key civilian infrastructure, including a major hospital, as reported by the news agency Associated Press.
“Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed — he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal,” Israel Katz told journalists in Holon near Tel Aviv. “Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.”
He added, "If during the terrible Holocaust the State of Israel had existed and the strong Israel Defense Forces had existed and we knew that we could send the IDF to the bunker to capture the Jew-hater Hitler in order to thwart the plan to exterminate the Jews that he led, we would have done that and sent the IDF and pulled him out and eliminated him, and so exactly accordingly, I see the situation that Khamenei is the modern Hitler.”
On Thursday, the Iranian barrage hit a high-rise and several residential buildings near Tel Aviv and caused a fire at the Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba. The hospital, which serves roughly a million residents in southern Israel and houses over 1,000 beds, suffered damage to an old surgery building. However, the facility had been partially evacuated in advance, emergency services said patients had to be moved following the strike.
Reacting to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "This morning, Iran's terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheba and at civilians in central Israel. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Two doctors at Soroka told the news agency Associated Press that the explosion occurred moments after air raid sirens blared.
A spokesperson for the hospital reported “damage to the hospital and extensive damage in various areas. We are currently assessing the damage, including injuries. We ask the public not to come to the hospital at this time.”
Apart from Soroka hospital, Iranian missiles struck other areas, including a residential high-rise in Tel Aviv. A Tel Aviv hospital reported receiving 16 wounded individuals, three of whom were seriously injured.
Retaliating to the Iranian strikes, Israel has carried out a series of strikes, the most significant of which targeted Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, a facility capable of producing plutonium, a material usable in nuclear weapons. The Israeli military said, “The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development.”
Israel also hit another nuclear-related site near Natanz. Israeli fighter jets reportedly hit the reactor core seal at Arak to halt its potential use in weapons development.
Since the conflict began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes, more than 639 people have been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has since launched over 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel, killing at least 24 people and injuring hundreds more, as reported by AP.
With inputs from AP.
Published By:
Akshat Trivedi
Published On:
Jun 19, 2025
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