‘A great miracle’ – No deaths, 6 seriously wounded after heavy missile barrage hits Beersheva hospital, several homes

Sirens were activated across communities in central Israel, the lowlands and the south on Thursday morning in response to a barrage of around 30 ballistic missiles from Iran. 

While Israeli air defense systems intercepted most of the missiles, strikes were recorded at Soroka Medical Center in the Beersheva area, as well as buildings in Tel Aviv, Holon, and Ramat Gan. 

Soroka Hospital was damaged in several places, specifically the old surgical building. Hospital staff said that part of the building that was directly hit was evacuated the day before at the instruction of the Ministry of Health, due to previous damages. 

The director-general of Magen David Adom emergency services (MDA), Eli Bin, called it “a great miracle,” stating that the Ministry of Health had ordered the evacuation of the damaged floor the night before. “Many lives were saved,” he stated. 

The hospital reported that all those injured were in mild condition or suffering from anxiety. Currently, the hospital is closed to new patients, with the exception of critical emergency care. 

Dozens of patients will be transferred to other hospitals in the area.

A thorough search was conducted throughout the hospital due to concerns about a potential hazardous materials leak. However, after several hours, authorities confirmed that no such leak had occurred.

Health Ministry Dir.-Gen. Moshe Bar Siman Tov, who visited Soroka on Thursday morning, said, "There is a lot of damage to the infrastructure.” 

He also praised the Health Ministry's decision to evacuate the areas of the hospital damaged by previous impacts. “A much heavier disaster and much heavier damage were avoided here, especially in human life. There was good decision-making here on the part of all of us to make sure that we were prepared,” he said.

Israeli Health Minister Uriel Bosso sharply criticized the Iranian regime, saying, “The firing of a missile at the Soroka Medical Center is an act of terrorism and crossing a red line.” 

Bosso said targeting the hospital was “a war crime by the Iranian regime that was deliberately committed against innocent civilians and medical teams dedicated to saving lives.” 

Following the initial publication of the hit on Soroka, the regime-affiliated Iranian news agency IRNA attempted to justify the attack, claiming that the missiles were targeting “an IDF intelligence headquarters and a base near Soroka Hospital.” 

According to MDA, six people were seriously injured as a result of the missile impacts in the central Israeli cities of Holon and Ramat Gan, including an 80-year-old man and two women in their 70s.  

The barrage, which occurred shortly after 7 a.m., was the second salvo of the day, following a barrage of five missiles launched a few minutes after midnight. 

In the overnight barrage, the missiles were intercepted by the American THAAD air defense systems with no casualties or hits reported. 

Four injured civilians from the morning attack in the central area were evacuated to the Wolfson Medical Center, while another seriously injured person was taken to Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer.

An additional 23 injured individuals were evacuated from the impact site in Ramat Gan, while several others sustained minor injuries that did not require hospital treatment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would “exact the full price” for the attacks on civilian areas.  

“This morning Iran's terror dictators fired missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheva and at a civilian population in the center of the country. We will exact the full price from the dictators in Tehran.” 

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar joined the condemnation, saying, “The Iranian regime fired a ballistic missile at a hospital. The Iranian regime is committing war crimes. The Iranian regime has no red lines.” 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir compared Iranian leaders to “Nazis who launch missiles at hospitals, the elderly and children.” 

“If they had nuclear weapons, they would have fired them without thinking even a second before,” he said in a statement on social media. 

Calling Operation Rising Lion “the most just campaign that Israel has embarked on in history” Ben Gvir declared that the people of Israel “are all united – to remove this threat once and for all, until the end and until total victory!”