A SEVEN-year-old girl who fled the war in Ukraine to receive life-saving leukaemia treatment in Israel has been tragically killed.
Nastia Borik, along with her grandmother and two young cousins, has been reported dead following the Iranian attack on a Bat Yam apartment building in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Her mother Maria Peshkurova, 30, remains missing, the Times of Israel reports.
The incident, which reportedly injured 180 people and resulted in at least six fatalities, occurs amidst six days of intense missile exchanges between the two nations engaged in conflict.
In 2022, Nastia Borik arrived in Israel with her mother, grandmother Lena Peshkurova, 60, and her two cousins, Konstantin Totvich, 9, and Ilya Peshkurov, 13, in search of crucial leukemia treatment.
The girl’s father, Artem, reportedly stayed in Ukraine to fight in the war against Russia.
He could not accompany his daughter due to a government order barring men under the age of 60 from leaving the country during the conflict.
Her tragic killing comes as tensions between Israel and Iran have reached cataclysmic heights, as a major Israeli hospital and an Iranian nuclear reactor were both blitzed this morning.
Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was severely damaged when it was struck by an Iranian ballistic missile, with Israel reporting around 70 casualties overnight – some serious.
The IDF confirmed it attacked an “inactive” plutonium nuclear reactor in Arak to “prevent it from being restored and used for nuclear weapons”.
After days of speculation, Trump on Tuesday night approved plans to attack Iran, but is holding off in case Tehran agrees to abandon its nuclear programme, reports the Wall Street Journal.
If given the go-ahead, the plans would see the US join Israel in pounding Iran’s nuke sites – which Tehran has warned would spark “all out war”.
The UK is yet to declare whether it would stand with the US should Trump decide to go ahead with military action.
But Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by Attorney General Lord Hermer that the UK’s involvement could be illegal.
It comes as Sir Keir held a Cobra crisis meeting on Wednesday with a potential US-led strike reportedly being discussed.
Trump has become much more vocal on the conflict, though refuses to confirm his plans: “I may do it, I may not do it,” he said on Wednesday.
If the US does collaborate in the attacks, Iran’s Fordow nuclear development area could be its first target.
A fearsome 15-ton mega bomb known as a Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bomb could be used to strike the core of the plant, which Israel is unable to reach with its own weapons.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office Trump acknowledged the US is the only nation capable of blitzing the key nuke site.
But he added: “That doesn’t mean I’m going to do it – at all.”
Trump also fired a two-word warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader after revealing Tehran was trying to return to the negotiating table.
When a White House reporter asked Trump about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s declaration that he will “never surrender”, Trump simply responded: “Good luck.”
Trump even directly threatened Khamenei as he said the US knows where he is hiding but will not kill him “for now”.
Khamenei responded by saying: “The battle begins. This nation will never surrender.
“America should know that any military intervention will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage.”
US officials indicated the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial in determining whether diplomacy could ever be achieved with Iran, ABC News reports.
It comes as warmongering Russia ironically warned the world sits “on the brink of catastrophe” as the raging Middle East conflict entered day six.
