‘So sad’: Israelis shocked by Iran strike on hospital

BEERSHEBA, ISRAEL: The damage was hard to comprehend for many at Israel’s Soroka Hospital as staff took stock of the wreckage after a strike by an Iranian ballistic missile on Thursday left part of the facility in ruins.

The strike in the southern city of Beersheba caused extensive damage to the hospital’s entrance hall and several departments, including the ophthalmology unit on the third floor of the surgical building.

The explosion shattered windows, hurling glass across the hospital, brought ceilings crashing down, destroyed medical equipment and left corridors in disarray.

“It’s so sad, I never thought something like this could happen. Never. It’s only medical professionals here, and patients… and look what happened to us,“ Wasim Hin, an ophthalmologist at Soroka Medical Centre, told AFP.

“Here we have new equipment, everything was destroyed.”

Yael Tiv, an officer in the Home Front command, said the damage was the result of a “direct hit” by a missile.

“You can see the damage inside. Shattered windows, the ceilings that fell. It’s a really awful scenario inside,“ she added.

The hospital’s director and other workers said that lives had been saved because the structure hit in the attack had been evacuated in recent days.

– Building evacuated –

“It’s a miracle. The building had just been evacuated,“ maintenance worker Kevin Azoulay told AFP.

Even still, 40 people sustained injuries during the attack.

“Several wards were completely demolished and there is extensive damage across the entire hospital with damage to buildings, structures, windows, ceilings across the medical centre,“ director Shlomi Codish told journalists.

Israel’s multi-layered air defence systems have managed to intercept most of the missiles and drones targeting the country during the last week of fighting between Israel and Iran.

But some have managed to slip through, wreaking widespread damage at the point of impact.

The Soroka complex is the largest hospital in southern Israel and a primary medical centre for Bedouin communities in the Negev Desert, as well as for wounded Israeli soldiers returning from the war in Gaza.

The UN’s World Health Organisation leader on Thursday denounced attacks on health facilities in the Iran-Israel war as “appalling”.

At the WHO annual assembly last month, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had also urged Israel to show “mercy” in its bombardment and siege of Gaza, saying it was “wrong to weaponise” food and medical supplies.

– ‘Pay a heavy price’ –

Arriving at the scene of Soroka Hospital to survey the damage Thursday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed swift revenge for the attack.

“We will make the tyrants in Tehran pay a heavy price,“ Netanyahu said in a post on X.

Iranian authorities later said the barrage had targeted a nearby Israeli command post and intelligence base, according to a report published by the state news agency IRNA.

Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also weighed in.

“In this operation, the regime’s command and intelligence centre near a hospital was targeted with highly accurate and guided missiles,“ the force said in a statement.

Elsewhere in Israel on Thursday, buildings were also damaged in the central towns of Ramat Gan and Holon, close to coastal hub Tel Aviv, which has been repeatedly targeted by Iranian missiles since war broke out between the countries last Friday.

“The truth is, God is with us and the government must keep doing what it’s doing,“ said Renana, a resident of a building hit in Ramat Gan.

Back at Soroka Hospital, Boris Knaizer, who heads the ophthalmology department, was at a loss.

He said the department treated around 50,000 patients a year.

“And now, how are we going to receive them?” he asked. “We have no idea, we have no space, we have no rooms, everything has been destroyed.”