Israeli minister says Khamenei ‘can no longer be allowed to exist' after hospital strike

Defence minister Israel Katz says Iran's supreme leader 'personally gives the order to fire on hospitals' after Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack

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Sky News

2 hours ago

• Sky News

Why Iranian strike that damaged Israeli hospital could have big impact on the war

As I approached Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, Israel, I could still see the smoke rising in the heart of the city after an Iranian missile strike. At the gates, stunned-looking patients were still emerging. Among them, Jummah Abu Kush, who was inside the building when it was hit. "Suddenly we heard an enormous explosion," he told me. "We knew it was close. All sorts of things fell from the roof. The doctor was injured and others in the room were hit by the debris too. "The building opposite was on fire. It was very dangerous, very worrying and very scary." Shai Nunu, a doctor at the hospital, said he felt a huge force after the warning sound rang out. "The siren stopped and then we heard a huge explosion. We were thrown backwards from the blast," he said. Around the back of the hospital, I saw the roof of one building had collapsed. In another, windows were blown out - bits of metal and plastic hanging precariously from rooms. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said they hit a military site nearby and the Soroka Medical Centre was not a direct target. Despite the extent of the blast, there were only minor injuries reported. But the impact on this war could be great. The Israeli leadership was quick to attend the site. First came President Isaac Herzog, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who declared, "We love Donald Trump", as he called for the annihilation of Iran. The Israeli government is framing what happened at the medical centre as a "war crime", vowing Iran would "pay a heavy price" and saying they were in the "process of achieving a tremendous victory". What that victory could look like is very uncertain and Iran shows no sign of backing down. Three days ago, Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah in Iran was also damaged by the shockwaves of a missile strike. The Israel Defence Forces claimed it wasn't a target. Whether intentional or not, healthcare facilities are once again at the centre of the story. The civilian number of fatalities remains far higher in Iran than Israel. More than 600 people have died so far, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. But an internet blackout has made it very difficult to get images or information out of the country. The last 24 hours have felt like a sea change in rhetoric and potential action. The drumbeat of war is sounding louder, with Israel using the attack on the medical centre to frame the argument for more intense attacks to come. The question is whether America will buy that argument enough to join the fight.

The Sun

3 hours ago

• The Sun

Iran launched DELIBERATE missile blitz on Israeli hospital but patients were moved at the last minute, president reveals

BABIES were among hundreds of hospital patients who cheated death when an Iranian missile blitzed an Israeli hospital, the nation's president told The Sun. Isaac Herzog revealed that the chiefs decided to move critical care units into a basement bunker just hours before the terrorist regime 'deliberately targeted' the hospital. 14 14 14 14 14 And in an exclusive interview with The Sun, the embattled Israeli leader branded his fanatic enemy 'disgusting and horrendous' as the Middle East conflict raged on. Appalled Mr Herzog, 64, vented his outrage at the presidential palace in Jerusalem after visiting shocked patients and staff at Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba. A huge explosion early today sent a mushroom cloud over the complex and set the roof on fire as terrified patients cowered in makeshift basement wards. They had been moved there just hours earlier by hospital chiefs as Iran's Islamist regime fired a barrage of 30 ballistic missiles from more than 1,000 miles away. Mr Herzog told The Sun: 'I was there this morning following the destruction by an Iranian missile - straight on the hospital where people were in treatment. 'The director general of the hospital decided only last night to remove all the units above ground to underground. 'They would have been killed for sure, because you see the building was totally demolished.' Mr Herzog said Soroka tends to two million patients every year, treating Israelis, Palestinians and sick and injured people from nearby Gaza. He paid tribute to the resilience of medics yesterday while revealing his shock at the scale of the damage. Mr Herzog said: 'Glass was strewn all over the place - windows and doors - total devastation, but I went underground and the hospital functions beautifully. Trump 'has APPROVED Iran attack plans & is ready to give orders' as Israel 'strikes reactor' & Tehran hits hospital 'Professor Mahmoud Abu Shakra, a great Israeli Muslim, was leading the emergency care unit underground. 'That's Israel for you. We have immense resilience. And we will recover, we will rebuild, and we will move on. 'It shows how cruel the Iranians are - the emergency care units full of babies were there, and this missile was aimed directly at the hospital. 'It was deliberate - we know it because we have intelligence. 'We know that they are carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes all the time. 'They decided to harass us. They want to drive us crazy, so they send those missiles, but they get us wrong because we are a very strong nation, and we know how exposed they are. 'They are making a huge mistake.' 14 14 14 14 14 Mr Herzog rejected comparisons to Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza and insisted medical sites in the besieged enclave were targeted because terror bases were hidden beneath them. He said: 'All the aid that went into Gaza from Western countries, from us, by the way, too - all that money went to build a terror infrastructure of the worst kind. 'That was deployed on October 7th - and it's all in tunnels out there, which are full of ammunition and our hostages.' Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz raged that evil Iranian kingpin Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must die after the missile struck the hospital. He said: "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, 'Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.' 14 14 14 Katz's threat was echoed by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel was ready to "remove" the nuclear threat from Iran. Asked during a visit to bombed Soroka Hospital if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was a potential target, Netanyahu said: "No one is immune.' "By the end of this operation, there will be no nuclear threat to Israel, nor will there be a ballistic missile threat.' It comes as Iran warned the US will be sparking an "all-out war" in the Middle East if they join Israel in dropping bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. The US president is yet to say if he will directly launch an attack, but is reportedly considering striking Iran's key underground nuclear site in the coming days. Trump has become heavily involved in the conflict over the last 72 hours. When asked about US bombing Iran, he said: "I may do it, I may not do it." It is believed that the US may choose to back Israeli strikes on Iran's Fordow nuclear development area. Will Trump strike Iran? By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter DONALD Trump is all but poised to join Israel's campaign of bombing Iran as they both seek to obliterate Tehran's nuclear program. The White House said on Thursday that Trump will decide on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks. It comes as Tel Aviv has been carrying out air strikes targeting various nuclear and military facilities in Tehran and other parts of Iran. The goal, as they say, is to thwart the Iranian regime's efforts to produce nuclear weapons. The Trump administration previously said it had no plans to join the conflict. However, winds in Washington began blowing the other way after Trump cut short his G7 visit in Canada and said he needed to focus on the Middle East. And has repeatedly insisted it was not to pursue peace talks with Iran "in any way, shape or form" - a stark shift in his previous policy of striking up a nuclear deal. Don also went on to share a slew of posts on Truth Social suggesting he may be considering strikes against Iran. He wrote: "Our patience is wearing thin," before calling out Tehran for an unconditional surrender. Trump also called for an emergency situation room meeting yesterday with his top Washington aides, though details of those meetings have not yet been revealed. But Trump's statements, coupled with America's military movements, suggest the US forces may soon strike Iran. As Trump rushed back to meet his National Security Council, he vowed he was chasing something "better than a ceasefire", which would force Iran into a "complete give up". He refused to specify the endgame, but ominously warned: "You're going to find out over the next few days." A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said that a US intervention in the Middle East would be "a recipe for all-out war in the region. This would likely be done by a fearsome 15-ton mega bomb known as a Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bomb that can penetrate deep inside the ground before blowing up. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office Trump did say the US is the only nation capable of blitzing the key nuke site. But he added: "That doesn't mean I'm going to do it - at all." Trump also gave a two-word warning to Iran's Supreme Leader after he revealed Tehran was trying to run back to the negotiating table since the conflict broke out. When a White House reporter asked Trump about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's declaration that he will "never surrender", Trump simply responded: "Good luck." Trump even stepped up his rhetoric towards Khamenei as he said the US knows where he is hiding but will not kill him 'for now'. Khamenei responded to the constant threats by saying: "The battle begins." He warned that the US will face hell if it enters the war and drops a single bomb on Tehran. 'This nation will never surrender,' Khamenei said in a speech read on state television. 'America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.'

Reuters

3 hours ago

• Reuters

Israeli hospital had taken patients underground hours before missile hit

BEERSHEBA, Israel, June 19 (Reuters) - Shattered glass and piles of rubble littered the floors of Soroka Medical Center on Thursday, after an Iranian missile ripped through the hospital in Israel's south, injuring dozens. The major public hospital, which serves around 1 million people living in southern Israel, sustained extensive damage in the strike. Several wards were completely destroyed, with debris scattered across the parking lot and surrounding walkways. "We knew from the noise that it wasn't like anything we were used to, that it wasn't like anything we had seen before," said Nissim Huri, who was working in the kitchen and took refuge in a concrete shelter during the strike. "It was terrifying," Huri said, describing the scenes as she emerged from the shelter as "complete destruction. Israel launched an aerial war against Iran on Friday, calling it a preemptive strike designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Iran has denied plans to develop such weapons and retaliated by launching counterstrikes on Israel. Hospital staff said the blast was so powerful it threw them backward. On Thursday afternoon, they sat in the hospital courtyard rewatching videos of towering plumes of smoke. Israel's Health Ministry said 71 people were wounded in the attack, most of them suffering light injuries or panic attacks as they rushed for shelter. Hospital staff evacuated patients and cordoned off damaged areas. The hospital began moving patients out of some buildings in recent days as part of emergency precautions in response to the Iranian strikes. It has since limited admissions to life-threatening cases only. Patients in the damaged building were taken to an underground facility just hours before the strike, a statement from the Israeli Health ministry said. Medical transporter Yogev Vizman, called to the scene just after the blast, said he witnessed "total destruction" when he arrived. "That whole building was on collapsed, Vizman said. "I'm sad, this is like my home, they simply destroyed our home... I never thought there would be a direct hit on a hospital." Soldiers from the Israeli military's search and rescue unit searched the battered buildings to ensure nobody was trapped inside. An Israeli soldier told Reuters all he saw at first was "thick black smoke" and that they inspected every floor to look for casualties. "It's God's will that this place was evacuated from civilians last night," he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.