Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have instructed the Israeli military to “intensify strikes against strategic targets” in Iran, after Iran launched its latest wave of ballistic missiles at cities across Israel on Thursday, CNN reported.

“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits deep inside his fortified bunker and launches deliberate attacks at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” Katz said in a statement shared by the defense ministry, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“These are the gravest forms of war crimes - and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.”

“The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against government sites in Tehran, in order to remove the threats facing the State of Israel and destabilize the Ayatollahs’ regime,” he said, according to the statement.

Iran's deputy foreign minister warned the United States on Thursday against intervening in the war to back up its ally Israel, adding that his country was ready to defend itself in case of escalation.

"If the United States wants to actively enter the field in favour of the Zionist regime, Iran will have to use its tools to both teach a lesson to aggressors and defend its national security and national interests," said deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi, according to state TV.

"Naturally, our military decision makers have all the necessary options on the table," he added.

- AFP

Israel's defence minister said Thursday that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be "held accountable" after an Iranian strike on a hospital in Israel, adding he had ordered the army to "intensify strikes" on the Islamic republic.

"These are some of the most serious war crimes -- and Khamenei will be held accountable for his actions," Israel Katz said, adding that he and the prime minister ordered the military "to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against the power infrastructure in Tehran, in order to eliminate the threats to the state of Israel and to shake the Ayatollahs' regime".

Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran's leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into chaos.

Sistani said in a statement on Thursday that any targeting of Iran's "supreme religious and political leadership" would have "dire consequences on the region".

He warned that it could spark "widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of its [the region's] people and severely harm everyone's interests".

Sistani urged the international community to "make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution" to Iran's nuclear programme.

Sistani, an Iranian, is the highest religious authority for millions of Shiite Muslims in Iraq and around the world, with the power to mobilise a huge portion of that base in Iraq.

With warnings of all-out regional war intensifying following Israel's surprise assault on Iran last week, fears are growing over an intervention by Iran-backed Iraqi factions, mostly against American interests in the region.

Despite his Iranian roots, Sistani is seen as an essential figure in Iraq's recent history and has been known for pushing back against Tehran's growing clout in Iraq.

Israel launched a devastating surprise attack on Friday targeting Iran's military and nuclear sites and killing top commanders and scientists, saying it is acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies.

The assault has prompted Iran to retaliate wirh barrages of missiles on Israel.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out plans to assassinate Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying it would "end the conflict".

US President Donald Trump had earlier said his country would not kill Khamenei "for now", but demanded Tehran's "unconditional surrender".

Khamenei rejected Trump's demand, as the US president warned he was weighing military action in the conflict.

Shiite Muslim clerics rallied late Wednesday, wearing military fatigues in southern Iraq, near the Iranian border. They held Iraqi and Iranian flags and shouted slogans condemning Israel's attack.

- AFP

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the Iranian missile strikes that damaged southern Israel’s Soroka Hospital targeted civilians, CNN reported.

“A baby in intensive care. A mother by their bedside. A doctor rushing between beds. An elderly resident in a nursing home. These were some of the targets of Iran’s missile attacks on Israeli civilians this morning,” he wrote in a statement on X.

The Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Be’er-Sheva was extensively damaged in Iran’s strikes, according to its spokeswoman.

“I send strength and support to the medical teams, to the patients, and to the residents of Be’er Sheva and all cities attacked across Israel this morning,” Herzog said.

“In moments like these, we are reminded of what’s truly at stake, and the values we are defending,” he added.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said on Thursday that at least 47 people were injured in Iran's latest missile strikes, updating an earlier toll and reporting 18 more injured "while running to shelter".

Three people are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition, an MDA spokesperson said in as statement, adding that "an additional 42 people sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and blast trauma, and 18 civilians were injured while running to shelter".

- AFP

The Israeli army said on Thursday it had struck Iran's Natanz nuclear site again, as well as an "inactive nuclear reactor" in Arak during overnight raids.

The air force "struck a nuclear weapons development site in the area of Natanz", the military said, adding that "the nuclear reactor in the area of Arak in Iran was targeted, including the structure of the reactor's core seal, which is a key component in plutonium production".

- AFP

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to enact revenge on the “tyrants in Tehran” after Iran struck a hospital in a missile attack.

“This morning, Iran’s terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the centre of the country,” the Israeli prime minister said.

“We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.”

- Daily Telegraph

A hospital in Tel Aviv told CNN it had received 10 people who were wounded in Iran’s latest wave of strikes on Israel.

Ichilov Medical Center said most of the wounded are in “mild” condition and are being treated in the hospital’s trauma room.

Israel's deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel called Iran's strike on Soroka Hospital in Israel's south on Thursday "deliberate" and "criminal", after the Islamic republic fired its latest salvo of missiles at the country.

"Iran just hit Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva with a ballistic missile. Not a military base. A hospital. This is the main medical center for Israel's entire Negev region. Deliberate. Criminal. Civilian target. The world must speak out," Sharren Haskel wrote on X.

Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service said on Thursday at least 32 people were injured following Iran's latest missile strikes, which an Israeli military official said involved "dozens of ballistic missiles".

In a statement, an MDA spokesperson said that medics were "providing medical treatment and evacuating to hospitals two people in serious condition ... as well as 30 people in mild condition with blast and shrapnel injuries".

It added that additional MDA teams were treating "several injured individuals at multiple scenes".

- AFP

Iran said Israel attacked its Arak heavy water reactor, a nuclear facility about 155 miles (250 kilometres) southwest of Tehran, according to state media agency IRIB.

Two projectiles were fired at the facility around 6am (local time), IRIB said. The facility has not been seriously damaged and there is no radiation.

Earlier on Thursday, the IDF issued an evacuation warning to residents near the Arak facility, saying: “Your presence in this area puts your life at risk.”

The Arak heavy water reactor was a focus of the 2015 nuclear deal with the US and other powers, because heavy water (or deuterium oxide) can be used to produce plutonium – providing Iran with a second pathway to a potential nuclear bomb, beyond enriched uranium.

Under the deal, Iran was required to redesign Arak into a peaceful research facility which could no longer produce weapons-grade plutonium. However, in the years since and following the US withdrawal, Iran has breached some aspects of the deal and no longer allows UN inspectors to monitor its production or stocks of heavy water.

The attack comes almost one week after Israel targeted three Iranian nuclear facilities - Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow - and several top scientists.