(JTA) — Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba was hit directly by an Iranian missile Thursday morning amid the most damaging barrage in days.
No one was killed in the strike, which Israeli media said came a day after that same hospital building had been evacuated of patients. However, scores of people were treated in hospitals across Israel for injuries, some serious, incurred during missile impacts in multiple Israeli cities Thursday morning.
Israeli officials said Iran fired for the first time what’s known as a cluster bomb — one whose warhead separates into multiple smaller explosive projectiles. They also said the attack on the hospital represented an escalation that would be responded to with force.
The barrage came as the conflict neared its one-week mark. Israeli forces continued to pound targets in Iran, and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the war objectives had expanded to include the “elimination” of Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Iran’s supreme leader.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, remained coy about his intentions. Israel wants Trump to intervene on its behalf, allowing for the destruction of Iran’s most significant nuclear facility, which is buried underground where Israeli weapons cannot penetrate.
Trump has signaled an openness to doing so, but faces sharp pushback from the anti-interventionist wing of the Republican Party. On Wednesday, he told reporters, “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Also on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had approved attack plans but had not given the signal to execute them.
On Thursday morning, as the scale of destruction in Israel was becoming clear, Trump posted a new message on social media: “The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!”
Later Thursday, Trump said in a statement that he will decide whether to attack Iran “within the next two weeks” and that “there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future.”