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Less than 24 hours after striking Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, Iran hit the city again overnight with a rocket that set homes and cars on fire. Five people were injured in this morning’s strike. Fire crews contained the blaze and declared the area safe by dawn.
Full casualty figures from yesterday’s hospital attack are now confirmed at 76 wounded.Hospital staff said no one was killed at Soroka but called the strike one of the most serious direct hits on a civilian medical facility since the conflict with Iran began.
President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Soroka within hours of the first missile impact and labelled the attack a war crime. Later in the day, Herzog said: “I think it’s disgusting and horrendous. We know that it was an Iranian-instigated attack on the hospital because they want to drive us emotionally stern and crazy, okay, to weaken our backbone emotionally.”
The Red Cross demanded respect for medical sites after the Soroka strike. Israel’s Health Ministry ordered hospitals nationwide to discharge mothers and newborns sooner if possible, reduce patient numbers and prepare for potential evacuation.
The overnight strike came as Israeli forces ramped up air raids deep inside Iran. Military officials said targets included the Arak heavy water reactor and missile launch sites in Iran’s northwest. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed damage at the Arak facility.
Israeli security sources claim the covert Operation Narnia killed Iran’s ten most senior nuclear scientists while they slept last week. Officials said more than half of Iran’s active missile launchers have been destroyed in waves of airstrikes since then. The IDF ordered civilian evacuations near the Sefidrood Industrial Park and other sites in northern Iran ahead of further attacks. Cargo planes flew in new supplies overnight to keep strike operations running.
In Washington, the White House said President Donald Trump will decide “within two weeks” whether to send US forces to join Israel’s war against Iran and eliminate its nuclear programme. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “I have a message directly from the president: ‘Based on the fact that there is a chance for substantial negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision on whether or not to go within the next two weeks.’” She added: “The president always wants to use diplomacy, but is not afraid to use force if necessary.”
Officials said Trump met his top national security team in the Situation Room yesterday — the third such session this week. They stated that he wants to ensure any military strike is necessary, avoids a drawn-out conflict in the Middle East, and achieves the goal of crippling Iran’s nuclear capability. US envoy Steve Witkoff has kept direct contact with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi but no meeting is scheduled. Trump said Wednesday that Iran still wants to negotiate and has proposed sending a delegation to the White House but warned “it’s very late” for talks and a decision is coming soon.
Iranian officials warned Washington that any direct US attack would trigger retaliation against American bases in the Gulf and more rockets on Israeli cities. Tehran’s security council said Iran would launch “the longest resistance war” if US forces step in.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Witkoff at the White House yesterday and tweeted that a “window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution.” He travels to Geneva today to join European counterparts and Araghchi for talks aimed at preventing wider war.
At the Gaza border, Israeli officials said 74 aid trucks crossed overnight through the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Government Humanitarian Fund reported 49,000 aid boxes delivered to local groups in Gaza. Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s strikes on Iran weaken Hamas’s leverage over Israeli hostages. Families of captives displayed new signs in Tel Aviv reading, “No shelters for hostages,” and urged ministers to secure more releases before any new escalation.
Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli freed from Gaza last month, returned to Tenafly, New Jersey, where crowds waving Israeli and American flags welcomed him home.
A new poll found 82 percent of Israeli Jews back the strikes on Iran but 57 percent say the timing is wrong. Fifty-eight percent believe Israel cannot stay secure without US help and just 31 percent said they trust Trump to handle the crisis well. Arab citizens showed far less support for the campaign.
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