JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - A major hospital in southern Israeli sustained extensive damage and injuries were reported in a series of Iranian missile attacks overnight.
The Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, 22 miles from Gaza, came under attack in the early hours of Thursday, reports say.
Israel's emergency services said dozens of people were wounded as Iran launched missiles targeting cities across Israel on Thursday, with many of them hitting civilian areas.
Israel's defense minister Israel Katz said IDF has been ordered to 'intensify strikes against strategic targets' in retaliation.
'This morning, Iran's terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X.
On the other side, Israeli military said it attacked the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor in central Iran, and the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, adding that those facilities have the potential to make nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, amid reports that US President Donald Trump has authorized plans to attack Iran, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei warned of 'irreparable harm' if the U.S. intervenes in the conflict, which has already claimed the lives of more than 250 people across both countries.
In the latest development, Iran's state-owned news agency IRNA reported that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet his counterparts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union for talks on Friday in Geneva.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he remains 'profoundly alarmed' by the ongoing military escalation between Israel and Iran, as both sides continued to trade airstrikes.
'I reiterate my call for immediate de-escalation leading to a ceasefire,' Guterres said in a statement in which he strongly appealed against any further internationalization of the conflict.?
'Any additional military interventions could have enormous consequences, not only for those involved but for the whole region and for international peace and security at large,' he warned.
The crisis erupted last Friday when Israel began targeting nuclear and military sites across Iran, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes on Israeli cities.
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