Israel vows vengeance after Iran targets hospital with ballistic missile Thursday
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Israel Condemns Iran’s Alleged Targeting of Hospital
Iran launched 20 ballistic missiles early Thursday morning, one of which reportedly struck the Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, southern Israel. Israeli officials and hospital sources described it as a “direct hit” Footage circulating online shows significant structural damage, though the hospital’s director confirmed that all staff and patients were safe in fortified shelters. Israel and its allies rushed to denounce the hospital damage as a war crime — a stunning display of hypocrisy from a state that has spent the past 20 months systematically bombing hospitals across Gaza. Israel routinely labels every hospital in Hamas “command center’’, despite that claim being used to justify repeated attacks on Gaza. Even if Iran had deliberately targeted the hospital, the strike would be considered “legitimate’ by Israel’S own warped logic, many observers have pointed out. The strike came hours after Israel launched fresh airstrikes on Iran, which the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claimed were aimed at nuclear facilities — continuing to frame their aggression as “retaliatory”
Footage circulating online shows significant structural damage, though the hospital’s director confirmed that all staff and patients were safe in fortified shelters, resulting in no serious injuries.
The strike came hours after Israel launched fresh airstrikes on Iran — which the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claimed were aimed at nuclear facilities — continuing to frame their aggression as “retaliatory.”
In contrast, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its missile barrage was a precise attack on military infrastructure, not civilian targets. Iranian sources emphasized that any damage to the hospital was caused by shockwaves and denied that civilian infrastructure was deliberately targeted.
Human shields and war crimes
Iranian outlets also noted that Soroka Hospital sits between two key Israeli military installations — the IOF’s main intelligence headquarters and a central command facility located in the Gav-Yam Technology Park. These sites reportedly serve as hubs for Israeli cyberwarfare and digital command systems.
The proximity of a hospital to such critical military infrastructure raises serious questions about Israel’s long-standing practice of embedding civilian sites around military assets — a tactic it routinely accuses others of using.
While Iranian officials reiterated the strike’s military intent, Israel and its allies rushed to denounce the hospital damage as a war crime — a stunning display of hypocrisy from a state that has spent the past 20 months systematically bombing hospitals across Gaza.
Israel has raided medical facilities, kidnapped doctors, and imposed a blockade that denies even basic medical supplies. Palestinian surgeons have been forced to operate without anesthesia, amputating limbs with rudimentary tools under siege. And yet, it is only now — when an Israeli hospital sustains damage — that Israeli leaders rediscover the language of international law.
Israel’s moral posturing
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza, quickly took to X to vow revenge:
“This morning, Iran’s ‘terrorist tyrants’ launched missiles at Soroka hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in central Israel,” he wrote. “Israel will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel echoed Netanyahu, claiming:
“Iran just hit Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva with a ballistic missile. Not a military base. A hospital. Deliberate. Criminal. Civilian target.”
Haskel has consistently defended Israel’s genocide in Gaza and dismissed international condemnations as “blood libel.” She also baselessly accused 10,000 UNRWA staff of being Hamas members — a falsehood that helped justify the defunding of a vital lifeline for besieged Palestinians.
Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that the IOF has been instructed to escalate operations, warning of intensified strikes on what he called “strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran.”
Katz, continuing the state’s hypocritical messaging, accused Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of committing war crimes:
“These are war crimes of the most serious kind – and Khamenei will be held accountable.”
This comes from the same minister who personally oversaw the complete humanitarian blockade on Gaza, manufacturing starvation for over two million people.
Katz later issued a direct threat to Khamenei:
“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 exist.”
A tale of two narratives
While Iran has denied deliberately targeting the hospital, many observers have pointed out that — even if it had —the strike would be considered “legitimate” by Israel’s own warped logic. Israel routinely labeled every hospital in Gaza a Hamas “command center” and used that claim to justify repeated attacks on Gaza’s medical infrastructure, despite never providing credible evidence.
In fact, as Israel prepared for potential Iranian strikes, hospitals across the country activated emergency protocols and moved patients to underground shelters. Footage circulating online appears to show armed Israeli soldiers taking cover alongside medical staff in hospital basements—exposing Israel’s own use of the very tactics it falsely accuses others of employing.
International media swiftly echoed Israel’s narrative, reporting on the strike as a hospital attack by Iran — a level of outrage and clarity that has been consistently absent in coverage of Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza’s hospitals. When Palestinian hospitals are attacked, the language softens: murders become “deaths,” baseless Israeli accusations are parroted without evidence, and Israel itself is often omitted as the perpetrator.
Also missing from headlines are Israel’s recent attacks on Iranian hospitals. In recent days, Israeli airstrikes targeted two civilian hospitals in Tehran and Kermanshah — a flagrant act that has drawn little international condemnation and even fewer headlines.
According to the Iran-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Israel’s strikes have killed at least 639 people and injured 1,329. Meanwhile, reporting from Jordan due to being banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera said six Israelis are in critical condition following Iran’s attacks on Thursday.
The Israeli death toll remains officially at 24 — a figure shrouded in media ambiguity, as Israel appears to both conceal the scale of its own losses and exaggerate civilian targeting to amplify its victim narrative.
An Iranian Missile Hit Southern Israel’s Largest Hospital. Here’s How Netanyahu, Katz Responded.
Israel is vowing to intensify its attacks on “strategic targets” in Iran. An Iranian ballistic missile struck the largest hospital in southern Israel on Thursday, in addition to other sites. About 40 patients suffered minor injuries in the attack. Defense Minister Israel Katz called Iran’s missile strike a “war crime” and said Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei will be “held accountable” “These are war crimes of the most serious kind – and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes,” he said. The surgical wing that was most damaged had been evacuated days ago, the hospital’s director said.
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Dr. Shlomi Kodesh, director of the Soroka Medical Center that was hit, said about 40 patients suffered minor injuries in the attack but the surgical wing that was most damaged had been evacuated days ago.
Iranian state media said its target was a military site next to the hospital, not Soroka itself.
Still, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge.
“This morning, Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country,” he said on X. “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”
Several hits were identified as a result of the missile barrage—one of them hitting the largest hospital in southern Israel. https://t.co/G29iJqGyiH — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 19, 2025
⚠️RAW FOOTAGE:
This hospital was one of Iran’s targets this morning. pic.twitter.com/urqFxa6P2e — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 19, 2025
Direct hit on a hospital in southern Israel. pic.twitter.com/4s1lQMAAX2 — Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) June 19, 2025
Defense Minister Israel Katz called Iran’s missile strike a “war crime” and said Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei will be “held accountable.”
“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of the fortified bunker and fires aimed shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” he said on X. “These are war crimes of the most serious kind – and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran in order to remove threats to the State of Israel and undermine the ayatollahs’ regime.”
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Katz was even more direct as he spoke with reporters while visiting the site of Thursday’s missile strike in Holon, calling Khamenei “the modern Hitler.”
Katz was then asked whether taking out the supreme leader was among Israel’s goals.
“The objectives of the war are to remove the nuclear threat, eliminate sources of destruction, and neutralize missile threats,” he said, reports the Times of Israel. “Within this framework, the IDF has been instructed and knows that to achieve all the objectives, without question this man should no longer continue to exist.”
Israel-Iran War Day 7: Trump’s Decision On Iran Expected ‘Within 2 Weeks’, Says White House
Tensions between Iran and Israel continue to rise. US President Donald Trump hints at military action against Iran. Israel issues warning to residents of Arak and Khondab in central Iran. Iran claims responsibility for attack on Israeli military base in Gharbiyeh, south of the city of Tabasq in the Golan Heights.
Last Updated: June 19, 2025, 23:50 IST
Iran-Israel War News Today Updates Day 7: Tensions escalated in the Middle East due to violent engagement between Iran and Israel for seventh straight day on Thursday with both the sides exchanging strikes.
While Israel targetted an area near the heavy water facility of Iran’s Khondab nuclear facility, Tehran directly hit southern Israel’s biggest hospital ‘Soroka Medical Center’ in a missile attack.
With the latest development, uncertainty looms over the prospect of peace in the Middle East region amid conflict. Further, Israel has issued an evacuation warning to the residents of Arak and Khondab in central Iran, which is home to a heavy water reactor facility – one of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Middle East has been witnessing deadly attacks for the past few years now and is expected to see more with United States President Donald Trump giving hints that he might push US directly into the fight.
US President, who cut short the G7 Summit and said some thing bigger was the reason behind him doing so and not the ceasefire as people were speculating, has open the possibility of the US joining Israeli military action against Iran as he claimed that Tehran had made overtures to negotiate.
“I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” Donald Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn amid a sharp escalation in the Middle East as Israel claimed responsibility for airstrikes on military targets in Tehran, including what it described as Iran’s “internal security headquarters.”
Netanyahu vows revenge as Iran strikes Israeli hospital
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a tough response after Iran’s missile strike hit Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. The missile caused serious injuries to patients, doctors, and staff, and damaged key hospital buildings. Iran reportedly launched about 30 ballistic missiles targeting various Israeli sites. Emergency care at Soroka is now limited to critical cases, while military teams assess building safety.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a tough response after Iran’s missile strike hit Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, the country’s largest hospital, on Thursday. The missile caused serious injuries to patients, doctors, and staff, and damaged key hospital buildings.
The strike came as the Israel-Iran conflict entered its seventh day. Iran reportedly launched about 30 ballistic missiles targeting various Israeli sites, including the hospital’s old surgical wing. Emergency care at Soroka is now limited to critical cases, while military teams assess building safety.
Netanyahu posted on X: “We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.” Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of personally ordering the attack and called it a war crime.
“The cowardly Iranian dictator fires at hospitals and homes while hiding in a bunker,” Katz said. “These are serious war crimes, and Khamenei will be held responsible.”
He also announced that Israel will intensify military attacks on Iran’s government and strategic sites.
Zion Hagay, head of the Israel Medical Association, called the hospital strike a blatant war crime. “While Israel targets security sites, Iran targets civilians,” he said. He praised Soroka’s emergency response for preventing a worse disaster.
The attack has sparked outrage across Israel, with demands for international condemnation of Iran’s actions. Emergency workers and medical staff continue to provide care despite damaged facilities.
As tensions escalate, Israel’s military prepares for more strikes aimed at weakening Iran’s capabilities and deterring further attacks.
Israel vows vengeance after Iran targets hospital with ballistic missile Thursday
Trump downplays signs of MAGA unrest over possible military strike on Iran. Trump downplays talk that some of his long-loyal MAGA supporters are breaking with him. The prospect of Trump jumping into the incredibly volatile situation in the Middle East is causing plenty of consternation among his top political and ideological allies. This is a rare moment for a movement that’s been firmly supportive of Trump since his 2016 White House campaign.
President Donald Trump appears to be downplaying talk that some of his long-loyal MAGA supporters are breaking with him over the possibility that the president will order a military strike on Iran.
This amid the nearly week-long daily trading of fire between the Islamic State and Israel, America’s top ally in the Middle East.
“My supporters are more in love with me today, and I’m more in love with them, more than they even were at election time,” the president said when asked about a GOP rift between some of his most vocal supporters of his America First agenda, and more traditional national security conservatives.
The president, speaking to reporters on Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House, added: “I may have some people that are a little bit unhappy now, but I have some people that are very happy, and I have people outside of the base that can’t believe that this is happening. They’re so happy.”
Asked if he would order an attack on Iran to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the president said, “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble.”
The prospect of Trump jumping into the incredibly volatile situation in the Middle East is causing plenty of consternation among some of his top political and ideological allies, and creating divisions within MAGA – a rare moment for a movement that’s been firmly supportive of Trump since his 2016 White House campaign.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser