Tensions between Iran and Israel escalated sharply on Thursday, June 19, after an Iranian missile struck the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. The strike injured at least 40 people, though there were no reports of serious casualties at the hospital, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
Black smoke billowed from the hospital’s old surgical wing, which had been evacuated in recent days. The hospital – one of the largest in southern Israel with more than 1,000 beds serving over a million residents – was forced to limit operations to life-threatening emergencies only. Two doctors, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the explosion as sudden and powerful, occurring shortly after air raid sirens sounded.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “cannot continue to exist,” adding, “A dictator like Khamenei, who has made the destruction of Israel his mission, must be removed. The IDF has been instructed accordingly.”
PM Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the hospital attack, promising retaliation. “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran,” he said in a televised address.
Meanwhile, US officials revealed that former President Donald Trump had previously vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Khamenei, though Trump later clarified that there were “no plans to kill him – at least not for now.”
According to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group, at least 639 people have died in Iran so far, including 263 civilians, with over 1,300 injured. Iran has fired approximately 400 missiles and hundreds of drones into Israel during this period, killing at least 24 people and wounding hundreds more.
