Latest news with #hospitalstrike
News24
13 hours ago
- Politics
- News24
Iran-Israel war: latest developments
Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Israel and Iran exchanged fire again on Thursday, the seventh day of the war between the longtime enemies. Here are the latest developments: Hospital strike A hospital in southern Israel was hit as Iran fired 'dozens' of missiles, officials said, with impacts also reported in two Israeli towns close to commercial hub Tel Aviv. The Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was left in flames, and its director, Shlomi Codish, said 40 people had sustained injuries. 'Several wards were completely demolished, and there is extensive damage across the entire hospital,' he said. Iran said the main target of its missile attack was not the hospital but a nearby military and intelligence base. READ | Israel sirens sound as missiles shot from Iran, countries evacuate citizens from conflict The International Committee of the Red Cross, citing international law, stated that 'hospitals must be respected and protected.' UN rights chief Volker Turk urged restraint from both Iran and Israel, saying it is 'appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities'. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran would pay a 'heavy price'. Israel threatens Khamenei Speaking in Beersheba after the hospital strike, Netanyahu said Israel was "committed to destroying... the threat of a nuclear annihilation" as well as Iran's ballistic missile capabilities. His defence minister, Israel Katz, said Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist". "Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed - he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals," Katz told reporters. Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States was aware of Khamenei's location but would not kill him "for now". Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned that any targeting of Iran's "supreme religious and political leadership" would have "dire consequences on the region". Trump mulls joining Trump said on Wednesday he was considering whether to join Israel's strikes and that Iran had reached out seeking negotiations on ending the conflict. 'I may do it, I may not do it,' Trump told reporters. 'I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.' READ | Netanyahu warns Iran will 'pay a heavy price' for hospital strike as Trump mulls US action Iran and European diplomats said nuclear talks would be held in Geneva on Friday, bringing together top diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, as well as Tehran's Abbas Araghchi. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump has told aides he has approved attack plans but is holding off to see if Iran will give up its nuclear programme. A key Iranian government body, the Guardian Council, warned against any US involvement in the war, threatening a 'harsh response' if 'the criminal American government and its stupid president... take action against Islamic Iran'. Tehran ally Moscow said any US military action 'would be an extremely dangerous step', while pro-Iran groups in Iraq threatened retaliatory attacks. A senior US diplomat, Tom Barrack, warned the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah against getting involved in the war, which he said in Beirut 'would be a very, very, very bad decision'. Nuclear sites, missile launchers The Israeli military said it struck an 'inactive nuclear reactor' in Arak in overnight raids on Iran that also saw the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz targeted again. It said the strike on the Arak site was carried out 'to prevent the reactor from being restored'. Netanyahu told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that Israel had destroyed 'more than half' of Iran's missile launchers since Friday. He said: I said that we're changing the face of the Middle East, and now I say we're changing the face of the world. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said more than 100 'combat and suicide' drones were launched at Israel on Thursday. Arrests Iranian police announced the arrest on Thursday of 24 people accused of spying for Israel and 'trying to disturb public opinion and to tarnish and destroy the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran', according to a statement carried by Tasnim news agency. Authorities in both Israel and Iran have announced arrests for espionage and other charges since the war began on Friday. Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said at least 223 people have been arrested nationwide on charges related to collaboration with Israel, cautioning that the actual figure was likely higher.
News24
a day ago
- Politics
- News24
Netanyahu warns Iran will ‘pay a heavy price' for hospital strike as Trump mulls US action
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of retaliation for a hospital strike. Iran said it was targeting Israeli military and intelligence headquarters near the hospital. US President Donald Trump is weighing direct involvement in the conflict. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran would 'pay heavy price' after a hospital strike on Thursday morning. Israel's deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel called Iran's strike on an Israeli hospital 'deliberate' and 'criminal', after the Islamic republic fired its latest salvo of missiles at the country. 'Iran just hit Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva with a ballistic missile. Not a military base. A hospital. This is the main medical centre for Israel's entire Negev region. Deliberate. Criminal. Civilian target. The world must speak out,' Sharren Haskel wrote on X. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said on Thursday that at least 47 people were injured in Iran's latest missile strikes, updating an earlier toll and reporting 18 more injured 'while running to shelter'. Three people are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition, an MDA spokesperson said in a statement, adding that 'an additional 42 people sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and blast trauma, and 18 civilians were injured while running to shelter.' READ | Israel sirens sound as missiles shot from Iran, countries evacuate citizens from conflict Reuters reported that Iranian missiles struck an Israeli hospital on Thursday while Israel hit targets across Iran as US President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the US would join Israel in air strikes seeking to destroy Tehran's nuclear facilities. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel. The worst-ever conflict between the two regional powers has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and further destabilise the Middle East. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's air campaign. 'I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do,' he said. Trump in later remarks said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting. 'We may do that' he said, adding 'it's a little late' for such talks. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuked Trump's earlier call for Iran to surrender in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday. 'Any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,' he said. The Iranian nation will not surrender. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and says its programme is for peaceful purposes only. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week Tehran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva to urge Iran to return to the negotiating table, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that. On Thursday morning, several Iranian missiles struck populated areas in Israel, including a hospital in the southern part of the country, according to an Israeli military official. Trails of missiles and interception efforts were visible in the skies over Tel Aviv, with explosions heard as incoming projectiles were intercepted. Israeli media also reported direct hits in central Israel. Emergency services said five people had been seriously injured in the attacks and dozens of others hurt in three separate locations. People were still trapped in a building in a south Tel Aviv neighbourhood, they added. Images showed buildings extensively damaged in Ramat Ghan near Tel Aviv and emergency workers helping residents, including children. Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, in southern Israel, reported it had sustained damage. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it was targeting Israeli military and intelligence headquarters near the hospital. In Iran, the ISNA news agency reported that an area near the heavy water facility of the Khondab nuclear facility was targeted by Israel. Earlier, air defences were activated in Tehran, intercepting drones on the outskirts of the capital, the semi-official SNN news agency reported. Iranian news agencies also reported it had arrested 18 'enemy agents' who were building drones for Israeli attacks in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Some residents of Tehran, a city of 10 million people, jammed highways out of the city on Wednesday. Arezou, a 31-year-old Tehran resident, told Reuters by phone that she had made it to the nearby resort town of Lavasan. 'My friend's house in Tehran was attacked and her brother was injured. They are civilians,' she said. 'Why are we paying the price for the regime's decision to pursue a nuclear programme?' Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the US might join it. A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering options that included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear installations. But the prospect of a US strike against Iran has exposed divisions in the coalition of supporters that brought Trump to power, with some of his base urging him not to get the country involved in a new Middle East US Senate Democrats urged Trump to prioritise diplomacy and seek a binding agreement to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, while expressing concern about his administration's approach. 'We are alarmed by the Trump administration's failure to provide answers to fundamental questions. By law, the president must consult Congress and seek authorisation if he is considering taking the country to war,' they said in a statement. 'He owes Congress and the American people a strategy for US engagement in the region.' In social media posts on Tuesday, Trump mused about killing Khamenei. Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked what his reaction would be if Israel did kill Iran's Supreme Leader with the assistance of the US, said on Thursday: 'I do not even want to discuss this possibility. I do not want to.' Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that ensured both Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel's right to the unconditional security of the Jewish state. Since Friday, Iran has fired around 400 missiles at Israel, some 40 of which have pierced air defences, killing 24 people, all of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The Iranian missile salvoes mark the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defences, killing Israelis in their homes. Iran has reported at least 224 deaths in Israeli attacks, mostly civilians, but has not updated that toll for days. US-based Iranian activist news agency HRANA said 639 people had been killed in the Israeli attacks and 1 329 injured as of 18 June. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
CNN
13-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Israel hits Gaza hospital as strikes resume following hostage release
Israel struck a hospital in Gaza early Tuesday, a day after briefly pausing military activity for the release of Israeli-American Edan Alexander by Hamas. The Israeli military resumed strikes in Gaza about an hour after Alexander left the territory, hitting the Al Daraj neighborhood in northern Gaza on Monday evening, before striking the Nasser medical complex in southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to hospital officials. The IDF strike targeted the surgical ward on the hospital's third floor, which is now 'completely out of service,' killing two patients and wounding medical staff, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said. The target of the strike appeared to be Hassan Eslaiah, a prominent Gaza photojournalist. He was being treated at the hospital after being wounded in an earlier targeted Israeli airstrike in April. The IDF claimed at the time of the April strike that Eslaiah had taken part in the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 and belonged to Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade, although it did not provide evidence to support the claim. It asserted that he worked 'under the guise of a journalist and owns a press company.' On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it 'precisely struck significant Hamas terrorists' at Nasser hospital, but did not name Eslaiah. Eslaiah crossed into Israel on October 7, 2023, documenting the attacks in photographs that were published by multiple major news organizations. He had previously said he had no forewarning of the attacks and rushed to the scene to document a major news event alongside other photojournalists. CNN, along with other news organizations, had periodically used material provided by Eslaiah. CNN cut ties with him in November 2023 after new allegations emerged of links to Hamas. CNN said he was not working with the network on October 7, 2023. Eslaiah said from his hospital bed in April that he faced 'false allegations' from the IDF and that he was 'not fighting or anything.' The Ramallah-based Palestinian Journalists Protection Center condemned Eslaiah's killing, demanding an international investigation into what they described as a 'heinous assassination.' The center called Eslaiah's killing the 'deliberate targeting of the voice of truth.' The Nasser hospital strike on Tuesday is the latest example of deliberate Israeli attacks on medical facilities in Gaza, for which Israel has been accused of violating international law. Hospitals are entitled to special protections during armed conflict under international humanitarian law and can only be targeted under extremely limited circumstances, such as if they are being used to actively commit 'an act harmful to the enemy,' according to the Geneva Conventions. The latest attack on Nasser hospital 'totally destroyed' two patient rooms, partially damaged three others and a nursing station, according to MAP's medical activity coordinator who is based at Nasser Hospital. 'The extension of the intensive care unit, which contains three ICU beds, was also affected – its electrical and oxygen systems were damaged in the strike – rendering the entire section non-operational,' the coordinator said in a statement provided by MAP. The strike adds to an already rapidly deteriorating situation for Gaza's medical facilities. Nasser hospital's medical director Dr. Atef Al-Hout said the hospital is rapidly running out of fuel to power its generators amid Israel's now 10-week blockade of the strip. Following the release of Alexander, the Israeli American hostage, the United States is renewing its push for a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. An Israeli delegation was set to fly to Qatar on Tuesday to resume negotiations, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed those talks will continue 'under fire,' with no slowdown in Israeli strikes expected without a deal.
