Tel Aviv, June 19 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed a fierce response against what he called the "terrorist tyrants" in Tehran, after a direct Iranian ballistic missile strike hit Soroka Medical Center -- Israel's largest hospital -- in Beersheba, leaving several patients, doctors, and staff seriously injured.
As the Israel-Iran conflict entered its seventh day, Iran reportedly launched around 30 ballistic missiles targeting multiple sites in Israel.
One of the missiles struck the Soroka Hospital complex, causing substantial damage, particularly to its old surgical building.
Emergency services are now operational only for critical cases, while Home Front Command soldiers conduct structural inspections of all buildings on-site.
Netanyahu, in a post on X, said: "This morning, Iran's terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the centre of the country. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran."
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also condemned the strike, directly accusing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of authorising deliberate attacks on civilians.
"The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of the fortified bunker and fires aimed shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel. These are war crimes of the most serious kind -- and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes," Katz said on X.
"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," he added.
The missile attack has provoked outrage across Israel's medical and political community.
Zion Hagay, Chairman of the Israel Medical Association, termed the strike a blatant war crime and demanded a firm international response.
"The eyes of the whole world should be turned this morning to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba to understand what a war crime really looks like," Hagay said.
"While Israel targets security objectives, the Iranians deliberately shoot at population centres to harm as many civilians as possible," he added.
He credited the hospital's emergency preparedness for averting what could have been an even greater catastrophe.
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