Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatened to undermine the Iranian regime after it deliberately targeted Soroka Hospital and civilian areas in a missile strike on Thursday morning.

B’Chasdei Hashem, the missile hit an old surgical department building that was evacuated only yesterday. In an incredible neis, the Health Ministry ordered the hospital to evacuate the area only hours before the attack, as it was deemed unsafe in case of a missile strike. Although the building and nearby buildings were heavily damaged, all patients and staff were in protected spaces and only light injuries were reported. However, six people were severely injured at the impact sites in Holon and Ramat Gan, and  141 were lightly injured.

“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits deep inside a fortified bunker while aiming deliberate strikes at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” Katz wrote on X.

“These are war crimes of the most serious kind—and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.”

Katz threatened Khamenei again while speaking to Holon Mayor Shai Keinan at the scene of one of the impact sites: “A dictator like Khamenei sits there with an ideology of destroying Israel and harnessing his country’s resources for this terrible goal. A dictator like Khamenei cannot be allowed to exist. Khamenei is a modern-day Hitler, diverting his nation’s resources toward the goal of destroying Israel.”

“The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran in order to remove threats to the State of Israel and undermine the ayatollahs’ regime.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated, “Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva and at a civilian population in the center of the country. We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”

President Isaac Herzog wrote, “A baby in intensive care. A mother by their bedside. A doctor rushing between beds. An elderly resident in a nursing home.”

“These were some of the targets of Iran’s missile attacks on Israeli civilians this morning.

“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.

“I send strength and support to the medical teams, to the patients, and to the residents of Be’er Sheva and all cities attacked across Israel this morning.

“In moments like these, we are reminded of what’s truly at stake and the values we are defending.”

The head of the Israel Medical Association, Prof. Tzion Chagay, stated, “The eyes of the whole world should be turned this morning to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva to understand what a war crime really looks like.”

“While Israel targets military sites, the Iranians deliberately fire at population centers to harm as many civilians as possible.”

“It is only because of the hospital’s readiness that a much greater disaster was averted.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stated, “If the Nazis who fire missiles at hospitals, the elderly, and children had nuclear weapons, they would fire them in a heartbeat without even thinking. This is the most just campaign that Israel has ever embarked on in history.”

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz posted on X in English: “While Israel targets Iran’s nuclear and missile programs that threaten not only us but the whole world, Iran targets Israeli hospitals and children.”

“There is no moral equivalence, and Israel will not waver in eliminating the capabilities of those who gleefully declare ‘Death to Israel, Death to America.'”

Despite the incredible neis, the hospital, the largest medical center in the south that serves hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis, sustained heavy damage, and many patients are being evacuated to hospitals in the center.

Soroka Hospital’s spokesperson stated, “This morning, Soroka Medical Center sustained a direct hit—an unprecedented event in the history of the Israeli healthcare system. The strike occurred while the medical center continues to operate under heavy strain and provide medical care to a population of over one million people and to security forces.”

The hospital wrote, “The main impact was recorded in the old surgical building. In recent days, we evacuated the departments from this building. There are no serious injuries among the patients or staff—only minor injuries and shock victims. The medical center is currently closed to receiving patients, except for life-saving cases only.”

The hospital’s statement added, “The medical, nursing, logistics, and security teams are working responsibly and with dedication to continue treating the injured and maintaining the continuity of vital operations. The internal medicine building has been evacuated, and teams are preparing to reduce the number of patients and transfer them to other hospitals, as well as initiate early discharges.”

“Suddenly everything broke,” witnesses said, as quoted by Ynet. “There is no building. The dining hall building collapsed.” The main building has collapsed into rubble with water flowing at the site from burst water pipes.

The Health Ministry ordered hospitals in the center to prepare to receive patients from Soroka, after first directing some to Barzilai and Assuta Ashdod.

Ilanit, who was at the scene, said, “There is almost no place in the hospital that was not damaged. The ceilings fell, and the medical teams rushed to get the patients into a protected space. Now they have evacuated us to the grass, but I don’t know how protected we are.”

Ilan Stolero, a volunteer helping patients, said the strike “is reminiscent of the Twin Towers. It’s really serious.”

“It was really stressful,” a patient in the emergency room said. “We heard the alarm and went to the stairwell, the protected space, and then suddenly we heard an abnormal boom. Things were flying. The ceiling was flying.”

“I entered the stairwell, and all the safety doors closed,” said Yoram from Soroka. “The ceiling fell on us; the impact threw me off. Until you experience something like this, you don’t believe it could happen, it’s impossible to understand something like this. The patients in the wards are being evacuated. it’s lucky we evacuated one of the wards yesterday; otherwise there wouldn’t have been a ward.”

A nurse at the medical center said, “There is no ward now. When we arrived, there was a rush of people, chaos. We went straight to the emergency room to see if we needed help. Now they are evacuating the entire hospital to protected areas, the building is not safe. We are quite shocked.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)