Iranian Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi on Wednesday said close to 700 civilians were killed in Israeli attacks on Iran during the 12-day war that started on June 13.
His statements came two days after Saeed Ohadi, head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said the attacks killed over 1060 Iranians, indirectly hinting that at least 360 soldiers have been confirmed dead.
During a visit to a Tehran medical center, Zafarghandi said nearly 5,000 civilians were wounded in the Israeli attacks.
Checking on a 5-year-old Kian Ghasemian - a burn victim whose family was killed in the attacks - Zafarghandi described the Israeli strikes as “a savage and unjustifiable assault on defenseless people.”
The Minister said 18 members of medical staff, including six physicians, were among those killed in the airstrikes.
Zafarghandi noted that seven hospitals were directly targeted by Israel, and a number of medical centers were evacuated due to emergency circumstances.
Also, “Israel also hit 11 ambulances,” he said, adding all those Israeli actions were in violation of international principles, laws and human rights.
The minister’s new figures came shortly after Iran’s government has issued a death toll for its war with Israel, saying at least 1,060 people were killed and warning that the figure could rise.
Ohadi gave the figure in an interview aired by Iranian state television late Monday.
Figures show that around 360 soldiers were killed in the attacks, including 40 high-ranking leaders from the Revolutionary Guard.
During the war, Iran downplayed the effects of Israel’s 12-day bombardment of the country, which decimated its air defenses, destroyed military sites and damaged its nuclear facilities. Since a ceasefire took hold, Iran slowly has been acknowledging the breadth of the destruction, though it still has not said how much military materiel it lost.
The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has said 1,190 people were killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said.
