Name: Iranian missiles hit hospital, other sites across Israel | DW News
Uploaded: 2025-06-19T17:08:40.000Z
Duration: 13 min 44 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Dozens of people have been injured in Israel following the latest round of Iranian missile strikes.

A major hospital in southern Israel and central Tel Aviv are among several sites hit.

Pictures from the strike location show significant damage and emergency services are out in force in several areas.

Iran and Israel continue to exchange air attacks as the conflict escalates.

For more on that, I'm joined by DW correspondent Tania Klemmer in Tel Aviv.

Tania, the Israeli military says several civilian areas, including a hospital, were hit by Iranian missiles.

Yeah, it was about 7am local time here this morning when the alerts came in and people had to rush to the bomb shelters.

And there was alerts across the country, not just here in Tel Aviv, and we could hear a heavy barrage of missiles.

So one of them, most of them were intercepted, but there were some hits, as you said, in one of the major hospitals in southern Israel in Be'er Sheva.

So the hospital there said there's extensive damage on one floor, but they are still assessing the damage there.

Most hospitals have moved their operations underground.

So this might have limited injuries, but still it is a hospital that was hit.

And there's also two reported hits here in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, one in Ramat Gan, where a high-rise was and many other buildings around it, as we see always with these attacks that are very heavy and lethal, hit and as well as in the city of Holon, which is south of Tel Aviv.

Now, we understand from the rescue and emergency services that at least five people are injured.

We have dozens of people that have been injured with milder injuries, some of them from shrapnel from the blast, but also from simply running to shelters.

But all this is, of course, now incoming news.

It just happened, so there will be more to come.

Tania, how have Israelis been reacting after days now of these Iranian retaliatory attacks?

Well, I think, you know, the days here are actually dictated by those alarms because they can come at any time.

We had yesterday in the evening, then around midnight, then in the early morning.

Now, the Home Front Command has changed a bit the guidelines.

They said some of the, you know, it was from the non-essential workplaces now to limited activities.

Those who have access to a shelter, which is nearby, they could start working.

So you see some shops opening up here in Tel Aviv and people try to get by.

But still, I think it's on everyone's mind that at any time, there could be an alert, you have to drop everything and you have to go to the shelter.

Now, people here, and of course, there are different opinions as well, but there have been some opinion polls here in recent days by the, one of them by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv University, showing rather broad support for the government's actions in Iran.

83 people, 83% of the people here support this action in Iran.

And they were also asked whether they are, you know, prepared for a longer campaign there.

And people, a majority of people say they do, they are prepared for this because they think this is an important moment right now.

And what have the IDF been communicating to Israelis about its continued campaign in Iran?

Well, I mean, they're communicating every day what they are targeting, what they're hitting, like overnight, we just got a note from the military that they have been in the air with about 40 aircraft.

They have hit several targets in Tehran, but also in other areas.

They said they are conducting those strikes in the area of Arak, where there is an inactive, as they called it, nuclear reactor.

They also have targeted some facilities around Natanz, where there's another nuclear reactor.

And also, they're still going on this missile, ballistic missile, hunting all the facilities related to it, launches, you know, industrial sites that they are hitting.

So, this is what they're communicating, you know, daily here also to the public, so that they understand what they are doing there.

Well, US President Donald Trump says he hasn't decided yet if the US will join Israel in bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

He added that Tehran should have negotiated a deal over its nuclear program sooner.

This comes as Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, defied Trump's calls for surrender in the conflict and warned that any US military intervention would bring irreparable consequences.

A cryptic answer from Donald Trump when asked whether the US would get involved in Israel's conflict with Iran.

You don't know that I'm going to even do it.

I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.

I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate.

And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction?

A day earlier, Trump had demanded Tehran's unconditional surrender, but that was firmly rejected by Iran's Supreme Leader,

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who struck a defiant tone.

America getting involved in this would be 100 percent to its detriment.

The damage it would suffer would be much greater than what Iran may suffer.

The damage to America, if it gets involved militarily, would undoubtedly be irreparable damage.

Israel, meanwhile, continues to launch strikes on targets across Iran, including on Tehran, where large plumes of smoke could be seen on Wednesday.

Streets in the capital were empty, with many residents fleeing since Israel launched its attacks six days ago.

Others have no choice but to stay, like this man in Tehran, who wanted us to conceal his identity.

Everyone I have spoken to, in taxis, on the street, they're scared, angry, trapped.

Whoever says Iranians are happy about this, they're lying.

Like Iranians, Israelis are also fearful of the next round of attacks.

Many are spending another night in bomb shelters as Iran launches more ballistic missiles and missiles against Israel.

Despite Israel's extensive air defences, several Iranian missiles could not be intercepted and hit residential areas, causing casualties and major damage.

With Iran and Israel threatening more devastation, civilians in both countries are bracing for what's to come.

René Wildangel is a historian and a Middle East expert and joins us from Berlin.

René, are we on the verge, do you think, of the US carrying out attacks on Iran?

Well, unfortunately, also, I don't have a crystal ball.

I think we can also see that there is a debate now within even the Republican Party.

There is a debate about Trump's original campaign promises to end American wars.

So when we are discussing even this scenario of the US starting to bomb nuclear facilities using the so-called bunker buster bomb, that would be basically a major entry into the war and it would expose the US to Iranian retaliation and it is very likely that the US would be fully dragged into this war and the consequences are huge.

And I think there are enough warning voices now also in the US.

Trump has been ever cryptic and we cannot predict it.

But if it happens, the escalation, the potential for escalation is huge.

Yeah, we talk a lot about the chances of this conflict spreading.

What other countries could potentially be dragged into this conflict?

Well, I think we are looking at the major escalation and the potential escalation in the whole region.

Also, we are in a situation where we know that Israel has decimated most of Iran's allies when we talk about the Houthis in Yemen, when we talk about Hamas, and when we talk most prominently about Hezbollah.

And notably, Lebanon has been very quiet because I think nobody in Lebanon wants to start a situation where there is another war starting in that country.

But in a situation where the US will be dragged into the war, where there is full-blown Iranian retaliation, then those allies might start to enter the confrontation as well.

Then we're talking about Lebanon, we're talking about Shia militias in Iraq, we're talking about potential retaliation on economic targets by Iran, closing the street of Hormuz, which will influence the whole Gulf.

We're talking about military strikes on US bases that are located in 19 different places in the Middle East.

So I think we're pretty much talking about the whole region that might be dragged into it, and even the Gulf states that are obviously very close allies to the US, who have been very critical of the Israeli attack at the beginning, might be forced to take part in this.

Rene, does Iran have the capacity, the ability to cause significant damage to the US and its facilities in the region?

I think the threats that we have heard from the Iranian leaders are not anti-threats.

They can attack American bases through their allies, and they can very much harm the global economy.

So far, I think the consequences of this attack have been surprisingly limited.

If we look at the oil price, if we look at global stock markets, but if the scenario that the Strait of Hormuz will be harmed, will be closed, the economic consequences might be much more dramatic, and it could influence the global economy.

And I think that's certainly something that also President Trump is considering.