Israel Threatens Iran’s Top Leader After Missiles Damage Hospital, Injure 40

Israel’s defense minister openly threatened Iran’s supreme leader after a missile barrage from Iran damaged a major hospital and struck a high-rise and several residential buildings near Tel Aviv.

Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. I Photo: Khamenei.ir Wikimedia Commons

At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service, Sarah Naffa reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Meanwhile, Israel carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor in its latest attack on the country’s sprawling nuclear program. Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger” from the strike.

A state TV reporter, speaking live from Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and that there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the missile attack and vowed a response, while Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He stated that the military "has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist.”

Heavy water is used to cool nuclear reactors and produces plutonium as a byproduct, which can potentially be used in nuclear weapons.