Israel's defense minister overtly threatened Iran's supreme leader on Thursday after the latest missile barrage from Iran damaged a major hospital and hit a high-rise and several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv.
At least 240 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. Black smoke rose from the Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba as emergency teams evacuated patients.
In the aftermath of the strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and 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.”
While it remained unclear whether US President Donald Trump would task American forces to join Israel's sweeping campaign against Iran's military and nuclear program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would “do what's best for America.”
“I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot,” Netanyahu said from the rubble and shattered glass around the Soroka Medical Center.
US officials said this week that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him “at least not for now.”
The conflict began last Friday with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.
