The Iranian missile hit Soroka Medical Center, a major hospital in southern Israel, and about 80 people suffered minor injuries, hospital officials said.

Israel's deputy foreign affairs minister said Iran's hit on the Soroka hospital on Thursday was "deliberate" and "criminal". In a post on X, Sharren Haskel said the site was the main medical centre for Israel's entire Negev region.

Since 2006, Hamas and Israel have fought several wars. Attacks by Hamas-led armed groups in October 2023 in Israel were followed by another war. Israel's actions in Gaza since the start of the war have been described by international law experts, genocide scholars and human rights organizations as genocidal.