At least six people were seriously wounded by an Iranian missile barrage on Israel on Thursday morning. Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center sustained a direct hit, and impacts were also reported in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Holon.
Four serious injuries were caused by a direct hit on a residential building in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, according to Wolfson Medical Center. The hospital said it was also treating 19 people listed in mild condition.
Two people were seriously wounded in the direct hit in Ramat Gan.
As of Thursday afternoon, the number of injured stood at more than 200, including at least 147 in the greater Tel Aviv region and around 60 in Beersheva. The figures include those injured while running to shelters, individuals suffering from anxiety, and hurt people who arrived independently at hospitals.
In addition to Wolfson and Soroka, victims were evacuated to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Rabin Medical Center Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf Harofeh Medical Center) in Be’er Ya’akov, Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak, Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod and Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah.
The barrage, composed of some 30 ballistic missiles, was the heaviest launched by the Islamic Republic in nearly 48 hours.
According to reports, part of the Soroka complex had been evacuated a day before Thursday’s strike by a special order of the Health Ministry, including the floor hit by the missile.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the site in Beersheba, hours after an Iranian ballistic missile hit it, in what the head of state denounced as a war crime.
“I arrived at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva this morning, to be greeted by Director of the hospital, Prof. Shlomi Kodesh, along with doctors, nurses, and patients, Jews and Muslims, from all walks of life from across the beautiful Negev,” Herzog said in an English-language statement.
“We stood together and looked at the destruction and devastation caused by an Iranian missile fired indiscriminately with the sole intention to take innocent lives in a hospital,” he continued. “This is a war crime!”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement following a visit to Soroka on Thursday afternoon that he received “many phone calls” from his counterparts around the world “condemning this crime.
“The Iranians are doing this time and again during the last days,” he noted. “We are attacking military objectives, nuclear program objectives, ballistic missile objectives. And they are specifically and deliberately targeting civilians.”
“This is clearly a war crime. It reflects the Iranian regime’s consistent strategy, they are deliberately targeting civilian population, civilian targets, civilians, children, elderly people,” Saar said.
The number of injured since Friday stands at more than 200, including at least 147 in the greater Tel Aviv region and 60 in Beersheba. The figures include those injured while running to shelter, individuals suffering from anxiety, and hurt people who checked themselves into hospitals.
