Name: Israeli hospital damaged after wave of Iranian missile strikes | BBC News
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Israel says at least 65 people were injured in the latest round of Iranian strikes across the country. Among the buildings hit on the seventh day of the conflict was a hospital in the southern city of Beersheba. Israel says it's targeted Iran's Natanz nuclear site and has also hit an inactive reactor. Iran's state media has released this video said to be of missiles being launched towards Israel. Well the news agency says the pictures were shot yesterday. Among those injured in Israel include a man in his 80s and two women in their 70s who are said to be in serious conditions. Several missiles managed to penetrate Israel's defense system. This is Ramat Gan in the

Tel Aviv area. A missile also landed between buildings in Holon. All the emergency services say more than 30 people were injured in the attack on the

Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. In a tweet Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu said terrorist tyrants had launched missiles at the hospital and at a civilian population. He said Israel would exact the full price from Iran for the attack. Well Iran says it was targeting a military site next to the hospital not the hospital itself. Well let's hear from a paramedic who was at the scene. As you can see behind me I am on a scene where a missile struck right in the center of a building complex. We have five buildings that were hit by the missile. We have one which is the main building and all the other ones surrounding it which were partially hit as well. We are currently evacuating minimal amount of patients. We have one serious patient with two more with minor injuries. We still have a lot of work behind me as you can see extracting patients from all the buildings going door from door. Our teams are together with the fire department and front command trying to get people out of their houses. You can see a house behind me is still on fire. Well the Israel

Defense Forces say they struck more than 20 military targets in Tehran yesterday. Iranian media says Israel struck an area near the heavy water research reactor in Kandahar which is part of Iran's nuclear program. The complex is commonly known as Iraq. Well it's understood around 60 Israeli war planes targeted Iran last night. Meanwhile President Trump is understood to have approved a plan of attack against Iran but has yet to decide whether he wants to go ahead with it. The BBC's partner in America CBS News says Mr. Trump's is still waiting to see whether Iran will abandon its nuclear program. Iran's supreme leader has rejected President Trump's demand for unconditional surrender and the Iranian foreign minister said his country was committed to diplomacy and his officials say they're considering possible meetings with US negotiators. Well Mr. Trump is reported to have approved plans for the

US to join Israel's attacks on Iran as we were saying but it's still to make a final decision on whether those strikes should go ahead. With more on that he's our North America correspondent Jake Kwon. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight as Israel and Iran exchange volleys for nearly a week. The people in neighboring Syria and Jordan are watching the missiles being intercepted like in this video but the war could spill over to American military bases in these countries as Washington weighs striking Iran directly. It's a 30,000 pound question. Only American bunker buster bombs could penetrate the Iranian nuclear sites at Fardo hidden deep underground. That's one possible target for President Donald Trump. He has now approved the plan to strike Iran. The

BBC's US partner CBS News has reported but he is holding off on the final order in case Iran agrees to abandon its nuclear program according to the report.

Speaking at the Oval Office yesterday the president insisted that a negotiated settlement with Iran was still possible. You know Iran was very close to signing what would have been a very good agreement for them and maybe that could still happen I guess you know they do want to come and see us they want to see me in the White House that's a big statement but it's very late. But

Iranians have immediately shut down the idea of negotiation or any idea of surrender. Americans have been helping Israel shoot down Iranian missiles but

Iranian officials warn a direct attack on Iran would be crossing the red line.

If they decide to to be engaged militarily direct military involvement in this massacre definitely we will do whatever necessary to protect ourselves.

Escalation of the conflict beyond Israel and Iran has the world powers worried.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin rejected the idea of killing Iran's leader and toppling the regime saying the Iranian people are consolidating around their leaders. Iran has convened an emergency meeting at the United Nations Security

Council which will be held tomorrow. The same day several of Europe's foreign ministers will meet with Iranians in Geneva a last-ditch effort to stop the war from sliding further. But for now it appears the real decision will be made in Washington inside President Trump's war room.

Well for more on that we've been hearing from

Kasher Junaidi who is our BBC Persian correspondent in Washington.

Ah, hi Kasher. So just tell us what the feeling is in Washington at the moment given what we heard there about what the White House is pondering.

Well there is a lot of speculation here about what President Trump would make of when he, when and what will be the final decision to be made by the president.

So he spoke about his options about Iran yesterday several times during the day and of course he was also talking about that if it's still a possibility of if it's still room for negotiations with Iran and he said that the Iranians have come to the White, want to come to the White House and talk to him but he's told them it's late and why didn't they negotiate with him earlier. But on the other side the Iranians have said that they've never asked for talks with

President Trump at the White House. Actually they said as long as the war carries on there is no room for negotiations and they will only talk when the war stops. So we are we are waiting to see what the president's final decision is about whether the U.S. would attack Iran together with Israel hitting its nuclear installations including the Fordow facility which is within the mountain within the earth.

And Kasher you've been monitoring Iranian reaction as well so what have we been hearing from Iran and indeed in in the media there in response to what the White House is pondering?

Well you know in the past 24 hours Iran has been dealing with cellular network outage and disruption in internet connections. So actually there is some sort of blackout from what we've been receiving from inside Iran. There has not been that much the information on social media about what the situation is there but from what we know is that the people are also anticipating and speculating to see what happens with President Trump's decision because that could be changing not only the situation inside Iran it could be having implications in the region because then if the U.S. joins Israel to attack Iran then the Iranian regime may retaliate and hit U.S. may try to hit U.S. bases in the region.

Ali Khamenei the leader of the Islamic Republic had a televised speech yesterday and he warned the Americans about the implications of joining the war and attacking Iran. So there is a lot of anticipation at the same time the streets in a city like Tehran the capital are almost empty. Those who could have left the capital have left the capital. Many cities have been the major cities have been evacuated and are not that many people are left on the streets.

So the situation in Iran is also that of a country that is under attack and people are waiting to see what happens next.

Okay Kashir thank you very much for that update monitoring events from where you are of course in Iran.

Thank you for the moment Kashir Junaidi in Washington there.

Well let's speak to our correspondent Dan Johnson who is in Jerusalem. Sorry let's go to Hugo

Beshega who is in Holon for us. Hugo you're at the scene now of where some of the Iranian missiles struck. Just tell us a little bit more about what you're seeing.

Yeah Virginia. So we had this wave of Iranian missiles earlier today. Air raid alerts sounded across the country at around seven o'clock in the morning. The Israeli authorities said around 30 missiles were fired by Iran as Iran continues to respond to these Israeli airstrikes.

Most of those missiles were intercepted by the country's air defense systems but some of them did manage to penetrate the defenses and one of those missiles hit here this morning this residential neighborhood in the city of Holon near Tel Aviv and the authorities are saying that the missile landed between these two buildings here. You can see that the top section of that four-story building partially collapsed. The authorities are saying that three people were injured as a result of the attack here. There is some damage in nearby buildings, houses as well. So I think it shows that Iran continues to have the ability to carry out these attacks. We've seen that the latest attacks by Iran hadn't been as intense which was seen as an indication of the impact of these Israeli airstrikes on the Iranian military's ability to carry out those attacks and reflecting that the Israeli authorities yesterday announced that some of the restrictions that had been imposed because of the war were being eased. So again what we're seeing here today is that the Iranian military continues to have the ability to carry out these missile attacks causing a lot of damage in places across Israel. Indeed and of course we're hearing more about the hospital as well that was struck Hugo. Just tell us a little bit more about the hospital where it is in relation to where you are and what more the authorities and medics have been telling us.

Yeah, Reginie. So this is a hospital the Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of

Be'er Sheva about an hour's drive from here and a missile struck this medical center, medical facility. The Iranian authorities are saying that the target of that attack was a military facility near this hospital. So we've had reaction from the Israeli authorities accusing Iran of deliberately targeting a hospital and we don't know you know what the target here could have been but again this was another you know missile that managed to penetrate the country's air defense systems. Now the reaction that we're seeing from the Israeli authorities so far indicate that these Israeli airstrikes are going to intensify. The Israeli defense minister says that not only military and nuclear facilities will be hit but also government buildings, facilities linked to the Iranian regime. So here I think you know again this strategy as we've been discussing for days now seems to be to put a lot of pressure on the Iranian authorities hinting at possible regime change in Iran as a possible goal in this operation.

Indeed Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Iran will pay a heavy price so no sign that things are going to let up Hugo.

No, no sign of de-escalation here on the contrary because now we're hearing from you know those reports in America that President Trump has decided to go ahead with, has approved military plans for direct American involvement in this Israeli offensive but no decision has been taken yet. A little bit of context here because it's crucial because this is you know a very dangerous moment here in the Middle East in which we could see a major regional escalation with American involvement. The Israelis have been saying that this campaign is to destroy, damage Iran's nuclear program. They've been saying that Iran was getting close to the point of no return in developing a nuclear weapon. There hasn't been any evidence to support this view. The assessment by the international community including from the Americans is that the Iranians had made no decision to weaponize their nuclear program. We don't know whether they had plans to do so but the evidence on the ground was that no decision had been made. Iran says this is a war of aggression that it has the right to defend itself and has been threatening to target American military interests in the region if there is direct American involvement and so we could see you know the potential here of a wider regional conflict. Okay Hugo Beshega, Ian Holon, thank you very much. Well let's take you to Beersheba which is where the hospital that was struck was because we're listening to, we're not quite sure whether that's a doctor or some sort of official but let's have a listen in. We will know more by the end of the day and we will issue more statements.

We've been moving departments since Friday, since the beginning of the war with Iran.

We've moved all of our unsafe departments immediately and in the following days we've moved departments that have sheltered areas but we felt should be more protected. So for instance the ward that we moved yesterday that was hit today does have sheltered areas but we felt we can do better and we moved it. This was not as a result of any warning or expectation, it's just what we do for emergency preparedness. How many patients are now where in the hospital?

Around 650, most of them in sheltered areas and formal sheltered areas. Yes we do have an underground hospital. We moved probably around 150 patients who are immobile to sheltered areas several days ago, four or five days ago. How do you react personally to that?

We're working and providing care for the population. The personal feeling will take a while as was the event in October 7th but it's a total shock that someone would target a medical center.

The people we have left in the hospital are elderly people, cancer patients, people who need urgent medical care, they cannot go home and these people were targeted directly to be killed by a missile attack. There's no other explanation for this and it's shocking that such a thing would take place.

We're just going to leave that. Apologies the sound was not that clear but a little update from Beersheba, of course that is where the hospital was hit by a wave of missiles from

Iran. Let's go to Jerusalem and speak to our correspondent Dan Johnson who's been monitoring all developments from there. Dan, we heard there from Hugo and from Kashia really how both Israel and Iran are not going to de-escalate. In fact what we've seen overnight just shows how things are intensifying. Absolutely yes and this intensification, this ramping up of the missile attacks from Iran into Israel seems to coincide with the Israeli cabinet meeting that happened last night which was at the same time that Donald Trump was meeting his top security officials in the White House, monitoring the situation here, assessing that plan to potentially support

Israel in its attacks on Iran. It was eight o'clock here local time that we saw the first barrage of missiles last night, then there was a second just after midnight. The Israeli air defences were very active through the night, the air raid sirens sounded across the country, people were advised to take shelter and that happened again here at 7am this morning when we understand up to 30 ballistic missiles were fired by Iran and that's when that hospital was hit in Beersheba. There have also been impacts around Tel Aviv and the suburbs of Israel's capital. Here in Jerusalem we heard very loud interception explosions in the sky, it didn't feel like anything actually got through here in Jerusalem but lots of missiles for the Israeli air defences to intercept and that was the most intense barrage to hit this city people are saying in the week of this intensifying conflict and it's underlined to everybody exactly what the risk is, what is at stake here. Now I suppose it cuts both ways and some people will argue this shows the threat that Iran is continuing to pose to Israeli citizens, to their neighbourhoods, therefore why

Israel has to continue its strikes on Iranian targets and why it needs that US support.

Others will say look this is what happens if you provoke Iran and that if there is any further escalation in this conflict we're going to see more of this, more damage in Israel, more loss of life, more casualties. Around 65 people across the country are reported injured this morning and the Israeli authorities of this morning issued an update about the entire seven days of this conflict so far saying that 24 people in Israel have been killed, over 830 injured and 20,000 buildings or vehicles have been damaged in the last week or so. So it's clear to everybody what the cost of this conflict is but still a huge decision for Donald Trump and for the Israeli leadership to make about exactly what happens next, whether they try to push towards some sort of peace negotiation or a deal or whether indeed they do escalate as Benjamin Netanyahu seems to favour. That's why he's asked for that US support. It is possible that everything we've seen, the increased rhetoric, the ramping up of attacks is all designed to put pressure on, to show force, to solidify each side's position so that they can make a negotiation, they can bargain from a position of strength. But it's also possible that this is the uncontrolled escalation that people have been warning about, that this runs away now and that we see even more destruction both in Iran and here in Israel too. That's what people are fearing. Okay Dan, and is there any more wider regional reactions, some of Israel's neighbours of course in other countries, say

Egypt for example or Qatar, people that have been brokers in this wider region?

Yeah, most of the surrounding countries have been pushing increasingly over the past few days for a peace settlement and we've heard that message coming from as far afield as China and

Russia too. We understand yesterday a plane with a delegation from Iran actually flew to Oman and it may be possible that they are in position ready to negotiate if indeed the Israelis come to the table and there is some possibility of talks. A lot of speculation about whether that is actually what's happening, whether that would even be possible. Donald Trump says he's got this plan in place, that he favours supporting Israel in what it wants to do but that he's looking to Iran to back down, to come and negotiate, to reach some sort of peace settlement that would keep

Israeli citizens safe, reassure Israel that Iran has no nuclear ambitions and no desire to further attack this country. But the Israeli leadership is very strong in condemning the attacks this morning, the apparent targeting of a civilian site. The Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gavir has called the Iranians Nazis for attacking that hospital. The Iranians have responded to that saying that actually they were targeting some sort of intelligence or military technology facility that is nearby to that hospital but the rhetoric again is increasing. Israel has promised that there will be more attacks in retaliation to what we've seen overnight and this morning so at the moment all the indications are this is potentially going to get worse before it gets better but it is always possible that this is the two sides going up to the brink before they come back and potentially negotiate some sort of settlement. Whether that's likely, all up in the air, potentially all for

Donald Trump to decide. Okay, thanks so much Dan Johnson in Jerusalem for us. Let's stay with the story, let's now speak to Azadeh Moaveri, the Associate Professor of Journalism at New York

University. Thank you very much for joining us here on BBC News. As we heard from Dan there, things just seem to be escalating. Is your perspective of someone who watches Iran very closely, what do you think the calculations are in Iran at a government level at the moment?

I mean we know that there are pre-negotiations going on, there are intermediaries who are trying to broker some sort of preliminary talks ahead of a possible return to the negotiating table. There's a meeting of Iranian diplomats and the E3 on Friday but I think for any of that to be feasible, for talks to be restarted from the Iranian side, there would be a clear expectation that the bombing would stop first.

I think it's impossible that Iran would be willing to go back to the table and resume where they had left off when Israel attacked Iran while this fight continues, if the facility, the nuclear facility at Fordow is bombed. So you know there's frantic diplomatic activity going on, the Iranians have been messaging and they're in touch with various intermediaries, but the precondition would be for the bombing to stop first. Which countries do you think hold a sway over Iran in this equation at the moment? I mean some people have even talked about Russia and the relationship

Russia has with all the players in this. I mean I think Iran is strategically lonely, I don't think that there's any player that is capable of pressuring Iran to do what it's not inclined to do, to reassert some form of deterrence. Inside Iran this is very much playing out and perceived and being waged by Israel as a war on civilians. I think it's really critical that the framing, the media framing of the sites that are being targeted inside Iran acknowledges that it's not simply nuclear sites that are being hit. They have been hitting for the past six days municipalities, water systems, energy infrastructure, refineries, media bases, civilian areas and dense neighborhoods.

So this is not targeted clinical strikes on a nuclear program, this is a war that's being waged on civilians and there's mass displacement of millions of people. It's very hard to get casualty numbers, but I think the Iranian leadership understands that the public mood is changing. Iranians perceive this as an attack on the Iranian nation, on its sovereignty, and there is a real sort of patriotic, sort of palpable sentiment emerging. People feel like their livelihoods are being threatened. The scenes that I'm seeing in

Tehran, what I'm hearing from friends and family, I mean I covered the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine through the displacement of Ukrainian refugees. You have a massive civilian population that's on the move. Very vulnerable people can't move. So I think to the extent that public sentiment inside the country is focusing around that, that gives the government a sense that... Okay, I've got to stop you there Azadeh Moaveini. Thank you very much for ending this half hour. There's plenty more on the BBC News website. Do stay with us.