A ballistic missile launched by Iran toward Israel early Thursday morning hit the Soroka Medical Center in the Negev desert city of Be’er Sheva in what Army Radio called a “direct hit,” with casualties yet unknown.
Update: Iran has acknowledged damaging the hospital but claims, via the Islamic Republic News Agency, that it was aiming for a military target, supposedly at the “Gav-Yam Technology Park,” next to the hospital.
According to Google Maps, the Gav Yam Technology Park is about a mile away from the Soroka hospital.
Update: A source told – News that the building that was hit at the hospital had been emptied because Soroka had reduced the number of patients to 40% capacity on Wednesday to ensure that there would be adequate space in “safe rooms” or bomb shelters. The missile hit an area that connected different wings of the facility. “If the missile had hit a few meters in any other direction [it] would have been horrific.”
Israel’s Army Radio confirmed the impacts and reported that there was extensive damage at the hospital, though it was not known if anyone had been wounded. Hospitals, like other large public buildings in Israel, are equipped with bomb shelters.
Soroka is an important hospital in southern Israel that serves a large Arab population as well as Jewish communities. It is also the only Level 1 trauma center in the region, making it even more important.
Soroka Medical Center (Wikimedia Commons)
Soroka has been in the news recently because it is a hospital that receives freed Israeli hostages, and because it is the hospital that receives wounded Israeli soldiers from combat against Hamas inside the Gaza Strip.
Army Radio reported that despite the fact that the Home Front Command had sounded the all-clear, allowing Israelis to leave bomb shelters, people were being asked not to approach the hospital, even for treatment.
Other missiles landed in the cities of Holon and Tel Aviv. Two barrages of ballistic missiles were reported, one of thirty missiles and one of twenty missiles — the largest launches Iran had managed in several days.
Israel’s Arrow missile defense system managed to intercept most of the missiles, but the sheer number of missiles appears to have overwhelmed the defenses, allowing a few to evade interceptors and hit Israel.
Firing at a hospital is a war crime. Israel has conducted military operations against hospitals in Gaza, but those have been commandeered by Hamas terrorists, which is itself a war crime, and also causes such facilities to lose their protected status under international law.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been engaged in constant operations to destroy Iran’s missile launchers and its nuclear sites. Iran’s leaders had nevertheless been promising an aggressive attack against Israel.
Update: Army Radio reported that the other missile impacts had caused only minor injuries thus far, but that there was severe damage to the hospital, and that authorities were still assessing the situation.
Israeli military correspondent Doron Kadosh reported that authorities had concluded that Iran intentionally targeted the hospital. Army Radio reported that several people had been wounded in various departments.
Army Radio later added that one resident in an old building in Holon was trapped in rubble, but alive. Entire floors of the building had been destroyed.
Army Radio later added that a four-story building in an older section of Holon had been hit — one where few buildings are equipped with bomb shelters, as required by more recent building codes.
Army Radio added that — as of one hour after the attack — there were no serious injuries reported at the hospital, but that the situation could change.
Initial reports from the hospital reported that the military was focused on addressing the risk still posed by the damaged building; there were no reports of wounded patients or staff yet. “It could have been much worse,” Army Radio reported.
Update: Israeli President Isaac Herzog noted in a statement: “Soroka Hospital, located in Be’er Sheva, is one of Israel’s finest—serving the entire Negev region, caring for Israelis of all faiths and our neighbors the Palestinians who come especially to be treated there. Its devoted staff—Jews and Arabs—work side by side in extraordinary harmony, united by the mission to heal.”
Update: In a briefing Thursday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said, in English:
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.
Iran targeting civilian centers with ballistic missiles is no surprise for us.
They have been openly declaring their desire to destroy the State of Israel for decades now.
These aren’t just words. Over the past six days, Iran has launched over 450 ballistic missiles and hundreds of UAVs.
This is exactly why we cannot — and will not — allow this regime to obtain nuclear weapons or expand its missile arsenal.
And so we continue our operations, striking Iranian nuclear weapons facilities, missile launchers and military sites.
Iran targets civilians; we target an existential threat that endangers global security.
And we will prevail.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, was less diplomatic, saying on a visit to Holon that Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was a latter-day “Hitler” who should no longer be allowed to “continue to exist.”
Photo: file
This story is developing.
