Iranian MP warns US bases are easier targets than Israel

The Israeli military rejected Iranian account Thursday that Soroka Medical Center housed military facilities, calling them “lies” and saying, “We are not so despicable as to endanger civilians.”

“The claim of an intelligence base or military equipment under the hospital is another lie. Attacking hospitals is a crime. Fabricating a reason does not justify it,” the military said in a Persian-language statement addressed to Iranians.

Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva was struck by an Iranian missile earlier Thursday, causing extensive damage and injuries.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is a “modern Hitler and cannot continue to exist,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said while visiting a missile impact site Thursday.

An Israeli intelligence and command center near a hospital was struck, using drones and missiles, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Thursday.

"The vast command and intelligence base was located in the Gav-Yam Negev technology park, adjacent to Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva," state news agency IRNA cited the IRGC as saying.

Israel earlier confirmed Soroka was directly hit.

“The entire sky of the occupied territories is defenseless and there will be no safe," warned the IRGC.

The Israeli military published footage Thursday of its morning strike on Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor.

Iran had informed the IAEA it planned to activate the facility next year.

The army said it targeted the component “intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development.”

Emergency teams in Ramat Gan, central Israel, responded Thursday to damage caused by the new wave of Iranian missile attacks.

Israeli air defense systems activated to intercept incoming projectiles during the assault.