An Iranian missile hit southern Israel’s main hospital early Thursday, wounding several people and causing extensive damage. Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba has more than 1,000 beds and provides care to about 1 million residents. Video footage of the missile’s aftermath showed blown-out windows and heavy black smoke. Hospitals in Israel have activated emergency plans, converting underground parking to hospital floors and moving patients underground as Iran retaliates against a week of attacks against its nuclear facilities. Most of the hundreds of drones and missiles launched by Iran have been shot down by Israel’s air defense systems, but as the attack on Soroka demonstrated, the defenses aren’t perfect. Israel continued to bomb Iran on Thursday, targeting the Arak heavy water reactor about 150 miles from Tehran. It had warned early that morning it would strike the facility and urged the public to flee the area. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran, and more than 1,300 wounded. At least 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds injured.
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