Israel bombed nuclear facilities in Iran on Thursday, targeting the Natanz and Isfahan sites, as Iranian missile strikes overnight hit a hospital in Beersheba, escalating the week-long air conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Iran’s leaders would pay the “full price,” calling Tehran’s rulers “tyrants,” while Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been ordered to escalate attacks on strategic sites in Tehran to destabilize the regime and neutralize threats to Israel.
Netanyahu warned that continued strikes could lead to the collapse of Iran’s leadership, declaring that Israel would do whatever was necessary to eliminate the “existential threat” posed by Iran.
Though Israel initially claimed it had also struck the Bushehr nuclear power plant, an Iranian diplomat told Reuters that Israel did not strike the plant, dismissing the claim as “psychological warfare.” Israeli officials later retracted the statement.
The Israeli military also said it targeted the Khondab nuclear site near Arak, including a heavy-water reactor under construction. The IAEA confirmed damage to the site but reported no radioactive material was present and had no evidence that the facility’s separate heavy water plant was hit.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed their missile strikes targeted Israeli military and intelligence facilities near the hospital. An Israeli official denied there were military targets in the area and accused Iran of deliberately striking civilian infrastructure.
The Soroka medical center suffered extensive damage, with 40 staff and patients wounded, and missiles also struck a residential building in Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv. Netanyahu, speaking from the hospital site, said he had ordered that “no one is immune” from Israeli retaliation.
