Black smoke rose from the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern city of Beersheba as emergency teams evacuated patients (Leo Correa/AP)

Israel’s defence minister overtly threatened Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday after the latest missile barrage from Iran damaged the main hospital in southern Israel and hit several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, Israel struck a heavy water reactor that is part of Iran’s nuclear 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) (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) (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) (Ronen Zvulun/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) (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) (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.

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the US for another 90 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership.

“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Trump disclosed the executive order on the Truth Social platform on Thursday morning.

Donald Trump (Alex Brandon/AP)

It is the third time the president has extended the deadline. The first one was through an executive order on January 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court — took effect.

The second was in April when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with US ownership that fell apart after China backed out after Mr Trump’s tariff announcement.

It is not clear how many times he can — or will — keep extending the ban as the government continues to try to negotiate a deal for TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance. While there is no clear legal basis for the extensions, so far there have been no legal challenges to fight them.

Mr Trump has gained more than 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. He said in January that he has a “warm spot for TikTok”.

TikTok praised Mr Trump for signing an extension on Thursday.

“We are grateful for President Trump’s leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users and 7.5 million US businesses that rely on the platform as we continue to work with Vice President Vance’s office,” the company said in a statement.

As the extensions continue, it appears less likely that TikTok will be banned in the US any time soon. The decision to keep the site alive through an executive order has received some scrutiny, but it has not faced a legal challenge in court, unlike many of Mr Trump’s other executive orders.

Jeremy Goldman, analyst at Emarketer, called TikTok’s US situation “deadline purgatory”.

The whole thing “is starting to feel less like a ticking clock and more like a looped ringtone. This political Groundhog Day is starting to resemble the debt ceiling drama: a recurring threat with no real resolution”.

For now, TikTok continues to function for its 170 million users in the US, and tech giants Apple, Google and Oracle were persuaded to continue to support the app, on the promise that Mr Trump’s Justice Department would not use the law to seek potentially steep fines against them.

Americans are even more closely divided on what to do about TikTok than they were two years ago.

A recent Pew Research Centre survey found that about a third of Americans supported a ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly a third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they were not sure.

Among those who supported a ban, about eight in 10 cited concerns over users’ data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.

Democratic senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Trump administration is again “flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings about the risks” posed by a China-controlled TikTok.

“An executive order can’t sidestep the law, but that’s exactly what the president is trying to do,” he added.

A court in Kenya sentenced two men to 30 years in prison for facilitating the 2019 attack on a Nairobi luxury hotel complex that left 21 people dead.

The court heard that Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali, both Kenyans, sent money and helped acquire fake identification documents for the militants, who died during the attack on the DusitD2 complex.

Al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, based in neighbouring Somalia, claimed responsibility for the daytime attack, one of its deadliest inside Kenya.

Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali sat in the dock at a Nairobi court (Andrew Kasuku/AP)

It occurred six years after an attack killed 67 people at Nairobi’s Westgate Shopping Mall and four years after an attack killed 147 students at Garissa University in northern Kenya.

Al-Shabab has vowed retribution against Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight it since 2011, and continues to stage attacks in Somalia and Kenya.

Judge Diana Kavedza during her sentencing said the judgment spoke for the survivors who deserve closure.

She noted “one of the most comprehensive counterterrorism investigations in Kenya’s history, as law enforcement agencies pursued not only the attackers’ immediate associates but also financiers, facilitators and logistical co-ordinators who enabled the attack”.

Foreign nationals, including an American and a Briton, were among those killed in the 2019 attack.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations’ vast system has tackled everything from delivering life-saving humanitarian aid to providing crucial peacekeeping operations in conflict zones since it was established in the wake of World War II.

As the international body closes in on 80 years, questions about its relevancy and efficiency have sharpened from supporters and critics alike. Recent U.S. cuts to foreign assistance and the reevaluation of humanitarian contributions by other countries have forced a reckoning for the U.N.

The organization has long sought to highlight its unique role as the meeting place of global leaders, with an ambitious mandate to prevent another world war.

Staffers, however, say the U.N. does more than respond to civilians’ needs in war zones and debate resolutions in the Security Council.

“The things that are not on the radar of anyone, that nobody sees every day, that’s what we do everywhere, in more than 150 countries,” said Diene Keita, executive director for programs at the U.N.’s population agency.

FILE – A woman who fled war in Sudan and requested anonymity because she feared retribution after reporting sexual exploitation, holds her baby in a refugee camp in Adre, Chad, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

FILE – A woman who fled war in Sudan and requested anonymity because she feared retribution after reporting sexual exploitation, sits in a refugee camp in Adre, Chad, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

FILE – Chinese United Nations troop practice sweeping for mines during the Shared Destiny 2021 drill at the Queshan Peacekeeping Operation training base in Queshan County in central China’s Henan province Sept. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

FILE – A group of migrants gather at the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, Nov. 25, 2018, as the mayor of Tijuana declares a humanitarian crisis in his border city and says that he has asked the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants who have arrived in the city. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

FILE – U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses the United Nations General Assembly, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE – Godfrey Otunga, Kenyan head of a UN-backed multinational police force, right, speaks to the new Haitian Chief of Police Rameau Normil during a tour for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield at their base in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 22, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool Photo via AP, File)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, right, gestures as he talks to a man who fled the war in Lebanon at the Syrian border crossing point, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)

FILE – Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE – Children play at the Benito Juarez Sports Center that’s serving as a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Nov. 26, 2018, afternoon the mayor of Tijuana declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and says that he has asked the United Nations for aid to deal with thousands of Central American migrants who have arrived in the city. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

FILE – United Nations headquarters is seen from the Queens borough of New York, July 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) Show Caption 1 of 10 FILE – A woman who fled war in Sudan and requested anonymity because she feared retribution after reporting sexual exploitation, holds her baby in a refugee camp in Adre, Chad, Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File) Expand

Here are five things the U.N. does that you may not have known:

Providing training to women and girls who have faced gender-based violence

U.N. agencies facilitate programs worldwide focused on women, tied to education, financial literacy, employment opportunities and more. Among the most sensitive services provided are those for victims of gender-based violence.

In Chad, the U.N. Population Fund operates several rehabilitation programs for women and girls recovering from that trauma. One of them, Halima Yakoy Adam, was taken at age 15 to a Boko Haram training camp in Nigeria, where she and several other girls were forced to become suicide bombers. Adam managed to escape with severe injuries, while the others died in blasts.

Through U.N. programs on the islands of Lake Chad, Adam received health and reproductive services as well as vocational training. She is now working as a paralegal in her community to assist other women and girls.

“We are not created to stay,” Keita said of U.N. agencies’ long-term presence. “So this is embedded in what we do every single day. We have that humility in knowing that we make a difference, so that people do not need us the next day.”

Resettling refugees in Mexico

Images of refugees at U.S. and European borders show the migration crisis around the world. Often overlooked are the refugees who are resettled in communities outside American and European cities, ones that resemble their home countries and cultural upbringings.

Since 2016, the U.N.’s refugee agency has supported the integration of more than 50,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Mexico. They arrived in southern Mexico and were relocated to industrial cities after being screened and granted asylum by the government.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provides transportation, orientation and access to health, education and other social services. More than 650 companies have agreed to train and employ these people, whose labor has generated a $15 million annual contribution to the Mexican economy, according to the U.N.

According to U.N. estimates, 94% of these working-age refugees have secured formal employment within their first month in the country and nearly 90% of school-age children have enrolled in school. The U.N. program also provides what staffers describe as clear pathways to Mexican citizenship.

“Mexico has become a country where people forced to flee can find the stability they need to restart their lives with dignity,” Giovanni Lepri, the top U.N. refugee agency official in Mexico, said in March. “A strong asylum system and legal framework allows an effective integration of asylum-seekers and refugees.”

Eliminating exploding remnants of war

U.N. agencies are present throughout various phases of war, from delivering food, water and medical supplies in an active military zone to the iconic “Blue Helmets” — the military personnel deployed to help countries transition out of conflict.

Less attention is paid to efforts made after the dust has settled.

One of those initiatives, the United Nations Mine Action Service, was established in 1997 to facilitate projects aimed at mitigating the threat posed by unexploded munitions in countries years — and sometimes decades — after war.

The U.N. estimates that on average, one person is killed or injured by land mines and other explosive ordnance every hour.

In January, a 21-year-old man was harvesting olives in a Syrian orchard with two friends when they noticed a visible mine on the ground. Panicked, they tried to leave, but one of them stepped on a land mine and it exploded, amputating one of his legs above the knee.

A month later, in Cambodia, a rocket-propelled grenade believed to be more than 25 years old killed two toddlers when it blew up near their homes.

The U.N. program aims to work with communities in Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria to safely locate and remove these remnants of war while providing education and threat assessments.

Since its inception, the U.N. says more than 55 million land mines have been destroyed and over 30 countries have become mine-free.

Teaching refugee girls self-defense in Kenya

In a refugee camp in northwest Kenya, dozens of girls 12 to 18 have gathered every Saturday at a women’s empowerment center to learn self-defense through a Taekwondo class.

The program, launched by the U.N.’s Population Fund last year, has focused on providing an outlet for girls who have either been victims of gender-based violence or are at risk of it after fleeing conflict zones in countries like South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo.

The coaches are locals who understand the cultural and political dynamics their students face while living in a camp that is home to nearly 300,000 refugees.

The goal is to use sports activities to create safe spaces for women and girls to discuss various issues like period poverty, abuse and domestic conflict. The program, which the U.N. has replicated in Egypt and elsewhere, is funded by the Olympic Refuge Foundation.

Sex education by monks in Bhutan

Topics surrounding sex and reproductive issues were considered taboo for centuries in Buddhist communities. U.N. staffers have spent the past decade working with religious leaders in Bhutan and other countries in Asia to “desensitize” the topics they believe are crucial to a healthy society.

The campaign has led more than 1,500 nuns from 26 nunneries to hold discussions with community members around sexual and reproductive health and the prevention of gender-based violence.

Now, at least 50 monks are trained to provide counseling services on these topics to students across Bhutan’s 20 districts.

The U.N. says these partnerships, which began in 2014, have contributed to a decrease in maternal mortality, an increase in contraception use, and better reproductive care for pregnant women.

Sir Keir Starmer, right, has called on Donald Trump to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East

Sir Keir Starmer has urged Donald Trump to step back from military action against Iran which could deepen the crisis in the Middle East.

The Prime Minister said there is a “real risk of escalation” in the conflict as he urged all sides to seek a diplomatic outcome.

He said there had previously been “several rounds of discussions with the US” and “that, to me, is the way to resolve this issue”.

His comments came as Foreign Secretary David Lammy is taking the UK’s plea for de-escalation to Washington, where he will meet Mr Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio.

Mr Lammy and US Secretary of State Mr Rubio will discuss the situation in the Middle East on Thursday evening.

.@POTUS on dismantling Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility: “We’re the only ones that have the capability to do it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it — at all.” pic.twitter.com/nYensmo0Iv — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 18, 2025

Iran and Israel continued striking each other’s territory overnight as the crisis deepens.

A hospital in southern Israel was hit by a missile, while a heavy water facility in Iran was targeted in the latest blow against Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The hospital attack led defence minister Israel Katz to say Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “absolutely should not continue to exist” – in a sign that plans to kill him could be revived after previously being vetoed by Mr Trump.

Mr Lammy’s meeting in Washington comes amid speculation US involvement could require using the UK-controlled Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands.

The B-2 stealth bombers based there are capable of carrying specialised “bunker buster” bombs which could be used against Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordo.

Attorney General Lord Hermer (James Manning/PA)

UK Attorney General Lord Hermer is reported to have raised legal concerns about any potential British involvement in the conflict beyond defending its allies, something which could limit the extent of any support for the US if Mr Trump decides to act militarily.

Sir Keir said: “There’s a real risk of escalation here that will impact the region, possibly beyond the region, akin to Gaza, and obviously it’s already having an impact on the economy.”

In relation to Lord Hermer, the Prime Minister said: “The Attorney’s advice is never disclosed by any government, but I can tell you the principle, the driving intent, which is that de-escalation.

“It’s very clear: yes, we need to deal with the nuclear programme, there’s no doubt about that in my mind, but it is better dealt with as a negotiated outcome.

“De-escalate and get to that point.

“There have been several rounds of discussions with the US. That, to me, is the way to resolve this issue.”

Mr Lammy will be taking that message to Washington but UK officials do not know which way the unpredictable US president will go.

Reports have suggested he has already approved a plan for an attack but has so far not decided whether to launch it.

Kemi Badenoch has said she would “in principle” support the US using the Diego Garcia base in a potential strike on Iran.

“I don’t think the US or Israel would be rushing into something unless there was a serious threat to global security,” she said.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on the Government to publish Lord Hermer’s advice, saying: “The last thing we need is for the UK to be dragged into another illegal war in the Middle East by the US.”

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: “I don’t think we can hide behind legal advice at a time of crisis and national security when we have to work alongside our biggest ally in the world, the United States, when they look to us for potentially… setting out operational activities through our own military bases.”

She said the Conservative Party would support British involvement in military action against Iran if it was deemed necessary.

Iran has insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, but it is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% and far in excess of the levels required for power stations.

The safety and security of British nationals is my top priority. We are asking all British Nationals in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to Register their Presence with the FCDO so that we can continue to share Travel Advice updates. pic.twitter.com/tyxTahFw2y — David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 18, 2025

A No 10 spokesman said: “We have been very clear that Iran’s nuclear programme has never been as advanced as it is today, it is a clear threat to international security.

“But we are urging all parties to show restraint and return to diplomacy. We are clear that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon and we will use all diplomatic means available to deliver this.”

The Government is also under pressure to step-up support for Britons stranded in Israel after the airspace was closed, a measure Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration is under pressure to lift from countries eager to get their citizens home.

The Foreign Office has evacuated family members of embassy staff from Israel based on a specific assessment of the risks they face, but has not provided similar transport out of Israel to other Britons.

Britons have already been advised against all travel to Israel and those already in the country have been urged to register their presence with the embassy.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said officials are working to get “military, commercial, charter flights and cruise ships” for an evacuation of Americans.

Asked about the difference between the US support and the UK approach, the No 10 spokesman said: “There’s a huge amount of work being done in the background on contingency planning. It is a fast-moving situation and we keep all our advice and planning under constant review.”