Netanyahu warns Iran after attacks on Israeli hospital

A hospital in southern Israel was hit by a direct hit by an Iranian missile on Thursday, officials said, adding that "extensive damage" was caused to the facility.

Soroka Health Center is the main hospital in southern Israel. A spokesman for the hospital said the building suffered "extensive damage" in several areas. Authorities at the health center have urged citizens not to seek medical treatment at the facility.

Another rocket hit a high-rise building and several residential buildings in Tel Aviv. At least 40 people were injured in the attacks, the Israel Rescue Service said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack on the hospital and vowed to respond.

"The tyrants in Tehran will pay a high price," he said.

Regarding Thursday's attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "can no longer continue to exist."

"A dictator like Khamenei, who leads a state like Iran and has the mission of destroying Israel, can no longer continue to exist. The Israeli army is instructed and knows how to act to achieve all goals, this person cannot continue to exist," he said.

Meanwhile, later on Thursday, Iran said that the main target of the missile attacks, which hit the hospital, was an Israeli military and intelligence base, not a health facility.

"The main target was the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base [Israeli Army C4I], the military intelligence camp, located near Soroka Hospital," the state news agency Irna said.

According to this agency, the direct attacks were on military buildings and that the hospital was hit "by a blast wave."

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said that Israeli military and intelligence command centers located near the hospital had been hit.

The stricken hospital has over 1,000 beds and provides services to almost 1 million residents in southern Israel, according to the hospital's website.

The attack came after Israel hit the heavy water reactor [nuclear reactor that uses heavy water].

The Israeli military said the attack on the Arak building was carried out by fighter jets.

 "The attack targeted components necessary for the production of plutonium, in order to prevent the reactor from being used for the development of nuclear weapons," the military said.

According to Iranian state television, “there is no danger from radiation.” A journalist for this television, during a live broadcast from the nearby city of Hondab, said that the facility has been evacuated and there is no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.

On Thursday morning, Israel warned it would hit the building and urged residents to evacuate the area. The Israeli military said Thursday's airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas in Iran, without giving further details. It later said Iran had launched a new wave of missile attacks on Israel and urged people to take shelter.

The seventh day of attacks between Israel and Iran comes a day after Iran's supreme leader rejected calls from the United States to surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause "irreparable damage to them."

Israel has also lifted some restrictions on people, suggesting that the threat from Iranian missiles has decreased.

Through its air campaign, Israel has so far struck Iran's uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz, centrifuge production facilities around Tehran, and the Isfahan nuclear power plant. It has also killed Iranian generals and nuclear scientists.

Iran has said that so far, 224 people have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks, while Israel has reported 24 deaths.

Otherwise, the Arak reactor - which was the target of Israeli attacks - is located 250 kilometers southwest of Tehran.

Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it also produces plutonium as a byproduct, which could potentially be used to make nuclear weapons. This would provide Iran with another route to a nuclear bomb, other than through uranium enrichment, if the country wants to produce such weapons.

On June 13, Israel launched an air campaign targeting military and nuclear sites inside Iran, saying it aims to prevent its enemy from possessing nuclear weapons.

Iran, which has responded by carrying out attacks on Israel, has consistently denied that it seeks nuclear weapons, arguing that its nuclear program has civilian purposes.