For second day in row, Iran missile hits Beersheba, damaging buildings, wounding 7 – The Times of Israel
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Israel threatens Iran’s top leader after missiles damage hospital and wound 200
Israel carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. At least 240 people were wounded by the Iranian missiles, four of them seriously. US President Donald Trump will decide whether to join Israel’s campaign against Iran’s military and nuclear programme within two weeks. Israeli military official said that Iran used a missile with multiple warheads in an attack on Thursday, posing a new challenge to its defences. Israel estimates that Iran had around 2,000 ballistic missiles at the start of the conflict, and says it has fired around 450 missiles and drones since. Israel lifted some restrictions on daily life on Wednesday, suggesting Iran was easing up on some of its threats to Israel. Israel has not commented on the claims, but has said it will continue to work with Iran on its nuclear programme, which it says is in good condition. Israel says it is working with Iran to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, which has been raging for more than a year. Iran says it will not give up its nuclear weapons programme.
At least 240 people were wounded by the Iranian missiles, four of them seriously, according to Israel’s health ministry.
The vast majority were lightly wounded, including more than 70 people from the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern city of Beersheba, where smoke rose as emergency teams evacuated patients.
In the aftermath of the strikes, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz blamed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist”.
From Washington, the White House announced that US President Donald Trump will decide whether to join Israel’s campaign against Iran’s military and nuclear programme within two weeks, saying that Mr Trump still sees a window for diplomacy to address Israeli and US demands on Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, told reporters, quoting Mr Trump.
US officials said this week that Mr Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Mr Khamenei. Mr Trump later said there were no plans to kill him “at least not for now”.
Israel carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country’s sprawling nuclear programme, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.
A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded.
In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds.
The Israeli air defence system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv (Leo Correa/AP)
Meanwhile, an Israeli military official said that Iran used a missile with multiple warheads in an attack on Thursday, posing a new challenge to its defences.
There was no immediate independent analysis that could be made of the claim, but Iran has hinted in the past that it was pursuing such weaponry.
Instead of having to track one warhead, missiles with multiple warheads can pose a more difficult challenge for air defence systems, such as Israel’s Iron Dome.
Two doctors told The Associated Press that the missile struck almost immediately after air raid sirens went off, causing a loud explosion that could be heard from a safe room.
The hospital said the main impact was on an old surgery building that had been evacuated in recent days. After the strike, the medical facility was closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases, it said.
Soroka has more than 1,000 beds and provides services to around one million residents in the south of Israel.
A firefighter walks past a damaged area at the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran (Leo Correa/AP)
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the strike on the hospital and vowed a response, saying: “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, although most have been shot down by Israel’s multi-tiered air defences.
An Israeli military official said on Thursday that airstrikes have destroyed around two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers.
The official said Israel estimates Iran still has more than 100 operational launchers, but that its losses have contributed to the steady decline in attacks since the start of the conflict.
Israel estimates that Iran had around 2,000 ballistic missiles at the start of the conflict, and says it has fired around 450 missiles and 1,000 drones towards Israel since hostilities began.
Israel lifted some restrictions on daily life on Wednesday, suggesting the missile threat from Iran was easing.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the strike on the hospital (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)
Haim Bublil, a local police commander, told reporters that several people were lightly wounded in the strike.
Many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and moving patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.
Israel also boasts a fortified, subterranean blood bank that kicked into action after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal to halt it from being used to produce plutonium.
“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the military said.
Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Patients rest outdoors after the attack on the Soroka hospital complex (Leo Correa/AP)
Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” from the attack on the Arak site.
An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.
Israel had warned earlier on Thursday morning that it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area.
Iran has long maintained its programme is for peaceful purposes. But it also enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich at that level.
Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but does not acknowledge having such weapons.
The strikes came a day after Iran’s supreme leader rejected US calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them”.
Israeli security forces inspect a destroyed building in Holon, near Tel Aviv, that was hit by a missile (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said he would travel to Geneva for meetings with his European counterparts on Friday, indicating that a new diplomatic initiative might be taking shape.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the meeting would include foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany and the European Union’s top diplomat.
Mr Trump has said he wants something “much bigger” than a ceasefire and has not ruled out the US joining Israel’s campaign. Iran has warned of dire consequences if the US deepens its involvement, without elaborating.
IDF will not end Iran offensive until nuke and missile threats removed, senior general says
US President Donald Trump says Iran must make a deal now over its nuclear program or face even more destructive and deadly military action. Trump says Iranians refused to agree to a deal, despite his many warnings of military actions that “would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.”
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump says on his Truth Social platform. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
He says Iranians refused to agree to a deal, despite his many warnings of military actions that “would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.”
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” he writes.
The president does not indicate the US will join the military action, but says he will continue to arm Israel with weapons to use against Iran.
“Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it,” he writes.
Israel threatens Iran’s top leader after missiles damage hospital and wound more than 200
Israel carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country’s sprawling nuclear program. At least 240 people were wounded by the Iranian missiles, four of them seriously, according to Israel’s Health Ministry. The vast majority were lightly wounded, including more than 70 people from the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern city of Beersheba. Iran has fired over 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear program, but state TV said there was ‘no radiation danger whatsoever’ from the attack. Israel is the only state-armed nuclear state in the Middle East but does not acknowledge having such weapons. Israel had warned earlier Thursday that it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area around the reactor. Iran long maintained that its program is peaceful and enriches uranium up to 60% for short-term purposes.
At least 240 people were wounded by the Iranian missiles, four of them seriously, according to Israel’s Health Ministry. The vast majority were lightly wounded, including more than 70 people from the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern city of Beersheba, where smoke rose as emergency teams evacuated patients.
In the aftermath of the strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist.”
U.S. officials said this week that President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him “at least not for now.”
Israel carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country’s sprawling nuclear program. The conflict began last Friday with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.
A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired over 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds.
Missile hits main hospital in southern Israel
Two doctors told The Associated Press that the missile struck almost immediately after air raid sirens went off, causing a loud explosion that could be heard from a safe room. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
The hospital said the main impact was on an old surgery building that had been evacuated in recent days. After the strike, the medical facility was closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases, it said. Soroka has over 1,000 beds and provides services to around 1 million residents of Israel’s south.
There were no serious injuries from the strike on the hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and vowed a response, saying: “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel’s multi-tiered air defences, which detect incoming fire and shoot down missiles heading toward population centres and critical infrastructure. Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect.
Many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and moving patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.
Israel also boasts a fortified, subterranean blood bank that kicked into action after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
‘No radiation danger’ after strike on reactor
Israel’s military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal in order to prevent it from being used to produce plutonium.
“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the military said. Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.
Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area.
Iran rejects calls to surrender or end its nuclear program
Iran has long maintained that its program is for peaceful purposes. However, it also enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich at that level.
Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but does not acknowledge having such weapons.
The strikes came a day after Iran’s supreme leader rejected U.S. calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.” Israel had lifted some restrictions on daily life on Wednesday, suggesting the missile threat from Iran on its territory was easing.
Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he would travel to Geneva for meetings with his European counterparts on Friday, indicating a new diplomatic initiative might be taking shape. Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the meeting would include foreign ministers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany and the European Union’s top diplomat.
Trump has said he wants something “much bigger” that a ceasefire and has not ruled out the U.S. joining in Israel’s campaign. Iran has warned of dire consequences if the U.S. deepens its involvement, without elaborating.
Arak had been redesigned to address nuclear concerns
The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of Tehran.
Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.
Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility over proliferation concerns.
The reactor became a point of contention after President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Ali Akbar Salehi, a high-ranking nuclear official in Iran, said in 2019 that Tehran bought extra parts to replace a portion of the reactor that it had poured concrete into to render it unusable under the deal.
Israel, in conducting its strike, signalled it remained concerned the facility could be used to produce plutonium again one day.
“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14.
Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran’s production and stockpile.
Trump to decide within 2 weeks whether to strike Iran, the White House says
President Donald Trump will decide within the next two weeks whether to strike Iran. Trump still sees a “substantial” chance that negotiations can achieve U.S. and Israeli demands on Iran’s nuclear program. At least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Israel’s defense minister threatened Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday after Iranian missiles crashed into a major hospital in southern Israel and hit residential buildings near Tel Aviv. The Israeli military did not say where the missile with the cluster munition warhead had been fired, but it hit an Israeli military intelligence compound near the Gav-Yam Negev advanced technologies park, some three kilometers (2 miles) from the hospital. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard insisted that it had not sought to strike the hospital and claimed the attack hit an Israel military Intelligence compound in the southern city of Beersheba. the Israeli army did not respond to a military official’s request for comment.
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — President Donald Trump will decide within the next two weeks whether to strike Iran, the White House said Thursday, saying Trump still sees a “substantial” chance that negotiations can achieve U.S. and Israeli demands on Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump’s announcement, relayed by press secretary Karoline Leavitt, puts an extended timeline on the president’s warnings to Iran to immediately shut down its enrichment operations and any other potential for producing nuclear weapons.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future. I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Leavitt quoted Trump as saying.
Israel’s defense minister threatened Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday after Iranian missiles crashed into a major hospital in southern Israel and hit residential buildings near Tel Aviv, wounding at least 240 people. As rescuers wheeled patients out of the smoldering hospital, Israeli warplanes launched their latest attack on the country’s nuclear program.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for Thursday’s barrage and said the military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist.”
While it remained unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump would task American forces to join Israel’s sweeping campaign against Iran’s military and nuclear program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would “do what’s best for America.”
“I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot,” Netanyahu said from the rubble and shattered glass around the Soroka Medical Center in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba.
U.S. officials said earlier this week that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him, “at least not for now.”
The U.S. has been weighing whether to join Israel’s attack by striking Iran’s well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.
The conflict began last Friday with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists. At least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
Iran has retaliated by firing hundreds of missiles and drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds.
More than 200 wounded, including dozens in the hospital strike
At least 240 people were wounded by the latest Iranian attack on Israel, among them 80 wounded in the strike on the Soroka Medical Center. The vast majority were lightly wounded, as much of the hospital building had been evacuated in recent days.
Israel’s Home Front Command said that one of the Iranian ballistic missiles fired Thursday morning had been rigged with fragmenting cluster munitions. Rather than a conventional warhead, the missile carries dozens of submunitions that can explode on impact, showering small bomblets around a large geographic area and posing major safety risks on the ground.
The Israeli military did not say where the missile with the cluster munition warhead had been fired.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted that it had not sought to strike the hospital and claimed the attack hit an Israeli military intelligence compound near the Gav-Yam Negev advanced technologies park, some three kilometers (2 miles) from the hospital. An elite technological unit of the Israeli military has a branch campus in the area, according to the tech park’s website.
The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, acknowledged that there was no specific intelligence that Iran had planned to target the hospital.
Many hospitals in Israel, including Soroka, had activated emergency plans in the past week. They converted underground parking garages to wards and moved patients to them, especially those on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.
Israel also has a fortified, subterranean blood bank that kicked into action after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Doctors at Soroka Medical Center said that the Iranian missile struck almost immediately after air raid sirens went off, causing a loud explosion that could be heard from a safe room. The strike inflicted the greatest damage on an old surgery building and affected key infrastructure, including gas, water and air-conditioning systems, the medical center said.
The hospital, which provides services to around 1 million residents of Israel’s south, had been caring for 700 patients at the time of the attack. Of the 80 lightly wounded in the strike, half were hospital staff, it said. Afterward, the hospital closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel’s multitiered air defenses.
Iran rejects calls to surrender or end its nuclear program
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, in addition to having a nuclear power plant, it also enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich at that level.
Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons — making it the only such state in the Middle East — but does not acknowledge having such arms.
Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday rejected U.S. calls for surrender and warned that any American military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.”
Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he would travel to Geneva for meetings with his counterparts from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, as well as the European Union’s top diplomat, indicating a new diplomatic initiative might be underway.
Trump has said he wants something “much bigger” than a ceasefire and has not ruled out the U.S. joining in Israel’s campaign.
Iran agreed to redesign Arak to address nuclear concerns
Israel’s military said Thursday its fighter jets targeted the Arak heavy water reactor, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran, in order to prevent it from being used to produce plutonium.
Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” around the Arak site, which it said had been evacuated ahead of the strike.
Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.
Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to alleviate proliferation concerns. That work was never completed.
The reactor became a point of contention after Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Ali Akbar Salehi, a high-ranking nuclear official in Iran, said in 2019 that Tehran bought extra parts to replace a portion of the reactor that it had poured concrete into under the deal.
Israel said strikes were carried out “in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14.
Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran’s production and stockpile.
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Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv contributed.
Sam Mednick, Natalie Melzer And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
For second day, Iranian missile strikes Beersheba, wounds 7 and damages homes
US President Donald Trump says Iran must make a deal now over its nuclear program or face even more destructive and deadly military action. Trump says Iranians refused to agree to a deal, despite his many warnings of military actions that “would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.”
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump says on his Truth Social platform. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”
He says Iranians refused to agree to a deal, despite his many warnings of military actions that “would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told.”
“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” he writes.
The president does not indicate the US will join the military action, but says he will continue to arm Israel with weapons to use against Iran.
“Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it,” he writes.