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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 19 June 2025:
- Iranian missiles caused serious damage at four sites in central and southern Israel, including at the Soroka hospital, while Israeli forces are reported to have attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor.
- US President Donald Trump says he’s still weighing his options on United States military intervention in the escalating hostilities.
- Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the US that any strikes on its territory would have “serious irreparable consequences”.
- The death toll from Israel’s attacks on Iran has risen to more than 240, including 70 women and children. At least 24 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 55,493 people and wounded 129,320, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli forces shoot Palestinian man during West Bank raid
The Israeli military has shot a Palestinian man during a raid on the occupied West Bank town of Yabad near Jenin, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report.
According to local sources, the man was injured by shrapnel caused by an Israeli live bullet, wounding him in the hand and waist during a raid on the town.
The severity of his condition is not currently known.
More than 20 lightly injured by Ramat Gan missile strike
Earlier, we reported that an Iranian missile had struck the Ramat Gan area of Tel Aviv district.
The Times of Israel now reports that at least 20 people have been “lightly injured” in that strike.
As we reported earlier, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange building is reportedly among the buildings damaged in the latest Iranian barrage.
Iran crossed a ‘red line’ targeting Soroka hospital: Israeli health minister
Israeli Health Minister Uriel Buso said that Iran has crossed a red line by targeting Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva in the south of the country with a missile.
“This is a war crime committed by the Iranian regime,” Buso was cited as saying by Israel’s Army Radio.
Israeli media has reported damage to the hospital following the latest Iranian missile attack.
At least 30 injured in Israel after massive missile strike
Our correspondent in Amman, Jordan, Nour Odeh, says that among the wounded, two are in a critical condition.
As we’ve been reporting, Iranian missiles hit the city of Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, damaging Soroka hospital, as well as in Tel Aviv.
Odeh said that damage to the hospital was the result of a blast wave, not a direct missile hit, corroborating claims by Iranian state media that the target of the attack was a “sensitive” site adjacent to the hospital.
A spokesperson for Israel’s ambulance service has told Israeli media that there is no leak of dangerous materials from the hospital, addressing circulating rumours to that effect.
The Israeli stock exchange building in Tel Aviv was also damaged in the strikes, Odeh added.
Photos: Aftermath of Iranian missile barrage in Israel
US embassy in Qatar temporarily limits airbase access
The US embassy in Qatar has curbed access to the Al Udeid Air Base for its personnel, urging greater vigilance by US citizens in “an abundance of caution” amid regional hostilities.
The US base is its largest such military facility in the Middle East.
This comes as Trump is mulling whether or not to join Israel in its attacks on Iran, a move which Iran has said would trigger attacks on US assets in the region.
Iranian state media: Strikes targeted Israeli army, intelligence facility
IRNA, the Islamic Republic News Agency, has said on Telegram that the “main target” of this morning’s missile attack “was the large [Israeli army] Command and Intelligence (IDF C4I) headquarters and the military intelligence camp in the Gav-Yam Technology Park”.
It said that this facility is located next to Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva.
IRNA claimed that the hospital only suffered minor damage from the shockwave resulting from the missile strike.
“The military infrastructure was a precise and direct target,” it said.
More than two dozen injured following missile strike in Holon
Earlier, we reported that an Iranian missile had struck the Holon area of Tel Aviv district.
Israeli’s Magen David Adom emergency services have now announced that one person has been seriously injured in that attack, while more than two dozen others have been lightly injured.
We will bring you more information when we have it.
Heavy damage reported at four sites in Israel after Iran missile attack
There were four impact sites. Three in central Israel, in the Gush Dan area as it is called. So that is the larger Tel Aviv area.
There was heavy damage sustained to some buildings. One in Holon is reported to have collapsed. There was also an impact site … near Soroka hospital.
This is a very large hospital in Israel. It receives, right now in the context of the war on Gaza, a lot of injured soldiers.
The hospital itself, that we know, was not the target. It was a building next to it that was struck. But it sustained heavy damage and medical crews are inviting the public not to approach the impact site.
They are still going through the buildings and the rubble to make sure that nobody is stuck under the debris.
Up to 25 people have been injured and these are very initial numbers.
Israel bombs near Khondab heavy water facility: Iranian media
An area near the heavy-water research reactor in Khondab, part of Iran’s nuclear programme, was hit by Israel, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reports.
Officials announced the facility was evacuated prior to the attack and there is no radiation risk, ISNA added.
The research reactor was partially built and previously known as Arak, with Tehran informing the UN nuclear watchdog that it plans to operate the facility next year.
Roof collapses at Soroka Hospital after missile strike: Report
As we reported a short while ago, an Iranian missile has struck near the Soroka Hospital in the city of Be’er Sheva in southern Israel.
Photos published by The Times of Israel newspaper show the extent of the damage at the hospital, with journalist Emanuel Fabian reporting that a roof has collapsed at the facility due to the missile strike.
We will bring you more information when we have it.
Israel’s decades of denial over its nuclear weapons programme
Israel has never formally admitted to having nuclear weapons, and its programme remains a closely guarded secret.
Despite the secrecy, monitors have followed information coming out of Israel for decades while the country maintains a policy of neither confirming nor denying it has nuclear weapons.
But whistleblowers and satellite imagery corroborate that Israel does, in fact, have a nuclear arsenal.
If you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed with the latest developments:
- Israel and Iran have again exchanged blows, with Israeli fighter jets bombing Iran’s capital Tehran and the city of Karaj, as well as a heavy-water reactor at the Arak Nuclear Complex in northwest Iran.
- The Israeli military earlier ordered people near Arak and Khondab to flee their homes, saying their lives were “at risk” as they were targeting Iranian “military infrastructure” in the area.
- Several explosions have also been heard over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as a new wave of Iranian missiles targeted the country, resulting in at least four impact sites.
- The Israeli military has carried out another deadly attack on aid seekers in Gaza, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 100 in an assault near the Netzarim Junction in central Gaza.
- When asked about the potential assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by Israel or the US, Russia’s President Putin said, “I do not even want to discuss this possibility.”
- China’s embassy in Israel has said, starting on Friday, it will assist Chinese citizens who want to evacuate the country to reach Egypt via the Sinai desert.
Israeli army demolishes West Bank home of shooting attack suspect
The Israeli military has demolished the home of a Palestinian man, Samer Hussein, in the occupied West Bank village of Einabus, south of Nablus.
In a post on X, the Israeli military said Hussein was a Hamas member who “carried out a shooting attack at the Gitti Avissar intersection on November 29, 2024”.
Hussein injured five Israeli civilians and four soldiers when he “fired at a bus and the bus stop where several soldiers were standing”, according to the Israeli military. Hussein was killed at the scene.
“The security establishment, with the backing of legal authorities, decided to demolish the terrorist’s home as part of the deterrence policy, according to which anyone who carries out an unusual terrorist attack, even if no one is killed, will have his home demolished,” the post said.
Israel’s Soroka hospital damaged in missile attack: Report
Israeli media has reported damage to the Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel following the latest Iranian missile attack.
Missiles were also reported to have come down in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan to the east and Holon to the south.
We will bring you more information as details emerge.
Israel attacks Iran’s Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor: Report
The Reuters news agency, citing Iranian state television, reports that the Arak heavy-water reactor has been attacked in Iran.
Earlier, the Israeli military issued threats to people living in the vicinity of the reactor to evacuate immediately.
We will bring you more on this attack as information emerges.
Israeli military says it killed Hezbollah commander in Lebanon
Israeli forces have killed Yassin Abdel Moneim Ezzedine, an artillery commander in Hezbollah’s Litani sector, according to the Israeli military’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee.
Adraee said Ezzedine had “advanced numerous shooting plots towards Israel and has been involved in attempts to rebuild Hezbollah’s artillery forces”.
Hezbollah is yet to comment on Ezzedine’s alleged killing.
Explosions heard over Jerusalem, Tel Aviv as Iran missiles target Israel
Several explosions have been heard over both cities as air alerts were activated from central to northern Israel as a new wave of Iranian missiles targeted the country.
Israeli media are reporting at least four missile impact sites in Israel. There were no further details.
We will bring you more on this attack as information emerges.
Japan readies military planes for Israel, Iran evacuation of citizens
Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said the military has been ordered to prepare planes for the possible evacuation of Japanese nationals from Israel and Iran.
“In view of the increasingly tense situation in the Middle East, we have decided to move Self-Defence Forces aircraft to Djibouti,” Hayashi told reporters on Thursday.
The Japanese embassies in Iran and Israel are preparing to use buses to evacuate citizens to neighbouring countries, Hayashi said, as the war entered its seventh day.
C-2 transport planes will “be on standby in order to respond promptly, should transport of Japanese nationals become necessary”, Hayashi said.
About 1,000 Japanese citizens are believed to live in Israel, and approximately 280 in Iran, the country’s Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said, citing the Foreign Ministry.
Shell CEO says firm is being ‘very careful’ with shipping in the Middle East
Wael Sawan, CEO of oil and gas company Shell, has said the firm is being “very careful” with shipping through the Middle East given the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
“The escalation in tensions over the last few days, in essence, has added to what has already been significant uncertainty in the region,” he told an industry conference in Tokyo.
“We’re being very careful with, for example, our shipping in the region, just to make sure that we do not take any unnecessary risks,” Sawan added.
Sawan said electronic interference was disrupting commercial ship navigation systems, while he cautioned that any disruption to the Strait of Hormuz waterway, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and fuel flows, would have major consequences.
“The Strait of Hormuz is, at the end of the day, the artery through which the world’s energy flows, and if that artery is blocked, for whatever reason, it’ll have a huge impact on global trade,” he said.
Air attack sirens sound in Israel as missiles fired from Iran
Israel’s military said missile launches have been detected from Iran and people should follow the security protocols of the Home Front Command.
The military said the Israeli air force is working to intercept the incoming missiles, but the country’s defences are “not airtight”.
Iranian TV shows downing of Israel’s Hermes 900 drone
Iranian TV has aired footage of what it says is Iran’s air defences shooting down an Israeli Hermes 900 drone near the city of Isfahan. It’s the first time Iran has aired footage of a drone takedown.
Protesters in New York rally against Israel’s attacks on Iran
We’ve been reporting on a protest outside the White House where demonstrators rallied against Israel’s attacks on Iran and urged the US not to get involved in the conflict.
We are now getting reports of a similar protest in New York City.
According to videos posted online by activists, hundreds of people marched in Manhattan, holding signs condemning US threats to strike Iran as well as its support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The placards read, “Hands off Iran now” and “Stop funding genocide”.
A recap of recent developments
- Israel says it destroyed Iran’s internal security headquarters in Tehran as more explosions are reported in the Iranian city of Karaj and the nearby Payam airport.
- Air raid sirens have blared in central Israel after Iran fired more missiles towards the country. Israel says the projectiles were intercepted.
- US President Donald Trump has declined to say if he has made any decision on whether to join Israel’s campaign. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
- This comes after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran would not accept an “imposed war” and warned that US involvement in attacks on Iran would bring “irreparable consequences”.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow has been in touch with Israel about its workers in Iran, and calls for an end to the fighting between the two countries.
- Israeli forces have meanwhile continued deadly attacks on Gaza, with health authorities reporting at least 72 killings in the past day, including 29 Palestinians who were gunned down while waiting for food assistance.
Welcome to our live coverage
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.
Stay with us for the latest developments, reactions and analyses.