After hospital attack, Israel vows Ayatollah ‘will be held accountable’

Israel’s defense minister says military will work to undermine Iranian regime after seven missiles strike across Israel, damaging hospital and residential areas.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli defense chief vowed Thursday morning that the IDF will hold Ayatollah Ali Khamenei personally responsible after Iranian ballistic missiles struck an Israeli hospital and multiple residential areas in the worst attack in days.

Roughly 30 ballistic missiles were launched towards Israel at approximately 7:00 a.m., with seven projectiles evading Israel’s air defense network and scoring hits across the country.

The Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba suffered a direct hit, causing severe structural damage, hospital officials said.

However, thanks to the evacuation of the building’s third floor a day earlier, only one person was injured in the attack.

Other strikes in central Israel, however, injured dozens, including at least three women who were seriously injured in an apartment building in Holon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) responded to the attacks by ordering the IDF to target the Iranian government, and pledging to hold Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responsible for the attacks.

“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits deep in his fortified bunker and fires targeted shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” Katz said.

“These are war crimes of the most severe kind – and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes. The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of the strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against governmental targets in Tehran, for the sake of removing the threats from the State of Israel and undermining the Ayatollah regime.”

Israel has hitherto declined to openly back either regime change in Iran, or the assassination of Iranian political leaders, limiting its targeted killings to senior military officials and nuclear scientists.

But Israel’s leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have hinted that the limits on Israel’s current war goals could change at any time.

Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that he did not rule out killing Khamenei, adding that doing so would likely “end the conflict” with Iran, rather than escalate it.