Police warn of possible hazardous material leaks after missile strikes in southern Israel

An area near Iran’s Khondab heavy water facility was targeted, ISNA reported on Thursday. Officials said the site had been evacuated in advance and there is no radiation risk. The report came shortly after the Israeli military issued a Farsi-language warning urging residents of Arak and Khondab in central Iran to evacuate.

Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, southern Israel, was hit by a ballistic missile launched from Iran, Israeli media reported on Thursday. The extent of the damage and any casualties have not yet been confirmed.

Israeli ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter told CNN on Wednesday that the Jewish state was considering various options to attack the Fordow underground nuclear site, including "surprises".

“It might require multiple strikes, it might require something else or it might require one of our surprises,” Leiter said. “We have a few tricks up our sleeves."

“If we have to pursue this and prosecute this by ourselves, we’re going to know what to do," he added. "We’re not going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a veteran Iraqi cleric who is one of the preeminent authorities in Shi'ite Islam, condemned attacks against Iran and called any killings of its leaders "criminal".

The top cleric "once again strongly condemned the continued military aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as any threats of assassination targeting the country's top religious and political leadership," his office said in a statement.

"He firmly warned that any such criminal acts — in addition to being blatant violations of religious and moral principles and a clear breach of international norms and laws — would have extremely grave consequences for the entire region," it added.

"It could potentially lead to a complete loss of control over the situation and trigger widespread chaos, further deepening the suffering of the region's peoples and severely endangering the interests of all."

"Iran has now been offline for over 12 hours as authorities impose a nation-scale internet shutdown, citing Israel's alleged 'misuse' of the network for military purposes," the internet observatory NetBlocks said early Thursday.

"The measure continues to hinder residents' access to information at a critical time," it added.