Israel accused Iran of committing war crimes on Thursday after the latest barrage of missiles struck a hospital in southern Israel, as the warring nations close in on one week of fighting.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to target Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directly, in a post on social platform X responding to the latest attack.
“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of the fortified bunker and fires aimed shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” he wrote, according to a translation.
“These are war crimes of the most serious kind — and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes,” Katz said.
The defense minister added that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have directed the Israel Defense Forces (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.”
Iranian missiles late Wednesday struck Be’er Sheva’s Soroka Hospital, the main hospital in southern Israel, and hit numerous residential buildings around Tel Aviv.
Israel’s Health Ministry said at least 240 people were wounded in the attacks, with most of them suffering light injuries. More than 70 people were wounded from the hospital strike, but none suffered serious injuries, according to the latest account.
The IDF, meanwhile, struck a heavy water reactor part of Iran’s nuclear program.
Israeli officials highlighted the centrality of the affected hospital, noting it serves non-Jews in surrounding areas as well. Officials also stressed the difference in the approach that the two nations take.
“Early this morning, an Iranian ballistic missile directly hit the Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva. This hospital serves over one million Israelis, including Bedouins, Jews, Christians and Arabs alike,” Israeli military spokesperson BG Effie Defrin said Thursday.
“Iran targets civilians. We target an existential threat that endangers global security,” the spokesperson added.
The latest strike comes after Israeli hit the headquarters of Tehran’s domestic policing arm, which includes the country’s massive Basij Resistance Force — the group that polices dissent in the country.
President Trump and his administration are currently mulling whether to assist Israel in its assault against Iran’s nuclear capabilities but have stopped short of supporting plans to target Khamenei directly.
The Iranian leader vowed Wednesday to “never surrender” and warned the U.S. against getting involved or risk an “all-out war.”
