Israel-Iran latest: Israeli minister says supreme leader ‘cannot continue to exist’ after Tehran strikes hospital
Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei “cannot continue to exist”, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz has said after the latest wave of Iranian missiles struck a hospital.
M Katz said the military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist”.
US officials said this week that president Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Mr Khamenei.
The main hospital in southern Israel, Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheba, suffered “extensive damage” in a direct hit from an Iranian missile this morning, officials said. The attack wounded at least 240 people, according to Israel’s health ministry.
Israel on Thursday attacked a heavy water reactor, Arak, part of Iran’s nuclear programme, after warning locals to leave the area. Iranian media reported two projectiles hitting an area near the facility.
Around 640 people have been killed in Iran by Israeli strikes, a Washington-based rights group says, while Iranian retaliatory fire has killed two dozen civilians in Israel, authorities reported.
Donald Trump has touted the prospect of the US joining Israel’s attacks and claimed late on Wednesday that Iran was “just weeks away” from having a nuclear weapon.
