TEL AVIV: Israel on Thursday warned that “no one is immune” from its strikes as it threatened to eliminate Iran’s supreme leader after an Iranian missile barrage damaged the main hospital in southern Israel and hit several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv. Israel, meanwhile, struck a heavy water reactor that is part of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Israel defence minister Israel Katz blamed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said “no one is immune” to Israeli attacks, indicating that Khamenei may also be “a target”.
US officials had earlier this week said that President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him “at least not for now”.
Netanyahu’s comments came in response to a question during a tour of Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, which came under Iranian missile attacks on Thursday morning.
“I gave instructions that no one is immune,” he said. “I prefer not to deal with headlines and to let actions speak for themselves,” he added.
“During a war, words have to be chosen with care, and actions with precision,” Netanyahu said, adding, “All the options are open. It’s best not to speak about this in the press”.
The PM reiterated that Israel’s operation in Iran was against its nuclear programme and missile stockpile to save his country, unlike “theirs that targets innocent civilians”.
“They fire at hospitals where people are unable to escape danger,” Netanyahu said.
“This is the difference between a functioning democracy that adheres to the law and these murderers,” he said.