June 19 (UPI) -- Iran and Israel traded attacks early Thursday as their war continued to intensify nearly a week after it began. Israel expressed outrage at an Iranian missile striking the largest hospital in southern Israel.
Tehran's missiles struck several regions throughout Israel, the country's military said in a statement, adding that the largest southern hospital was hit. It later published photos to its X account showing several buildings damaged in Ramat Gan, a city in the Tel Aviv District.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz alleged that Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist" after the missile hit Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. Katz accused Khamenei of personally giving the order to fire on hospitals.
Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed the hospital was not targeted and that the true target was a military site near the hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed revenge for the strike on the hospital. In an X post he said, "We will make the tyrants from Tehran pay the full price."
The Israeli military has hit multiple hospitals, some of them several times, as it waged war on Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. As Israel attacked the hospitals, its government claimed they were justified in the attacks because they were being used by Hamas.
In April, Israel was widely condemned by Christian groups in the Middle East for allegedly intentionally hitting a Gaza hospital on Palm Sunday. Israel also claimed without publishing evidence that the hospital was used by Hamas.
As outrage spread against Iran's missile hit on the Israeli hospital, Shlomi Codish, director general of the hospital, said much of the building had been evacuated recently, reducing casualties.
Israel's national emergency service Magen David Adom said medics were providing care to those injured at several locations.
At least three people were reported in serious condition, including a man in his 80s and two women in their 70s. Two people were listed in moderate condition and 39 were listed as lightly injured. They suffered shrapnel injuries, the agency said.
An emergency service spokesperson said in a statement that intensive care buses have been prepared to receive patients for evacuation to medical centers.
Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said this attack was part of the 12th wave of retaliatory strikes in Operation True Promise III, which began Friday in response to Israel's attack on Tehran's nuclear facilities.
The statement, carried by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, said the guard corps warned Israel and its citizens that "the thunderous missiles of the IRGC Aerospace Force will not allow you a single moment outside underground shelters."
"Rest assured, the sound of red alert sirens will not cease for a moment," it said.
Israel said 40 of its fighter jets attacked dozens of military targets in Iran with more than 100 munitions, including the Arak heavy water reactor.
"The attack was carried out against the component intended for producing plutonium, thus preventing its ability to be reused to produce nuclear weapons," the IDF said.
A second site, in the Natanz area, was also struck, with the IDF claiming it was used to develop nuclear weapons.
"The fighter jets also attacked military production sites of the Iranian regime, including factories for producing raw materials, components used to assemble ballistic missiles and sites for creating Iranian air defense systems and missiles," it added.
Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, but its nuclear enrichment capabilities have greatly advanced since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran and unilaterally withdrew the United States from a landmark multinational nuclear accord aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon.
Trump, who failed during his first term to bring Iran to the negotiating table on a new deal, was in talks with Tehran, which fell apart last week when Israel attacked Iran.
Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, on Thursday said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the IDF to increase "the intensity of attacks" targeting government facilities in Tehran "in order to remove threats to Israel and undermine the ayatollahs' regime.
He also accused Khamenei of launching missiles at Israel's hospitals and residential buildings while hiding an a fortified bunker.
"These are war crimes of the most serious kind -- and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes," he said.
Iran and Israel have been in a proxy war for years, which exploded into the open on Oct. 7, 2023, when Gaza-based Hamas, an Iran-backed militant organization, attacked Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis and sparking the ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel has responded by devastating Gaza, killing more than 55,000 Palestinians and injuring nearly 130,000 more. It has also attacked Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, as well as Iran and Gaza.
