The World Health Organization decried Thursday’s direct hit by Iran on one of Israel’s largest hospitals, Soroka Medical Center, which put the 1200-bed facility serving most of the country’s southern region largely out of operation. 

In an X post, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also deplored the deaths of three Iranian Red Crescent Society health workers three days ago, following an Israeli airstrike on Tehran three days ago. 

The escalation of hostilities between #Israel and #Iran is putting health facilities and access to health care at risk. The reports on the attacks on health so far are appalling.

This morning’s attack on Soroka Medical Center in Israel — the only major hospital in the south –… pic.twitter.com/nNJsVQ2Jxf

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) June 19, 2025

The Iranian missile packed with 400 kilograms of explosives destroyed a surgical wing on the sixth floor of the massive facility – sending a large plume of smoke up in the air. 

“This morning’s attack on Soroka Medical Center in Israel — the only major hospital in the south — resulted in dozens of patients being injured, some severely; 250 patients being evacuated to other health facilities; and damage to the facility, leaving it only partially functional,” said the Director General in his post, early Thursday evening. 

Some 40 people at the hospital were treated for largely minor injuries, thanks to the fact that patients and operations had already moved underground – including those in the affected wing only yesterday, Israeli authorities said. 

But the widespread destruction at the sprawling complex, including collapsed walls, shattered windows, and hundreds of broken computers and medical devices, led to the evacuation of most patients from the hospital, which serves over one million people in Israel’s southern region, including the Negev community of 250,000 Bedouin citizens.   

Israel protests WHO’s silence

On Thursday afternoon, Israel’s Ambassador to Geneva, Daniel Meron, posted a video in front of the WHO headquarters, protesting the WHO’s silence over the attack that had happened around 6 a.m. Geneva time.  

“Where is the condemnation of WHO?”  asked Meron. “It is not a military site. It is a civilian hospital…. and the Iranians are targeting time after time, civilian targets in Israel. I am waiting for a condemnation and the selective silence of WHO is deafening,” he said, an oblique reference to the many WHO statements calling out Israel’s  destruction of Gaza’s health facilities, during its grinding 20-month war on Hamas.

Soroka Hospital in Beersheba – where Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Arab Bedouin receive care – was hit by an indiscriminate Iranian ballistic missile this morning.

Where is the condemnation of @WHO and its leadership? pic.twitter.com/SLMFx02SMN

— Israel in UN/Geneva🇮🇱🇺🇳 | #BringThemHome (@IsraelinGeneva) June 19, 2025

When the WHO response came 12 hours later, the WHO Director General was careful to balance his comments, noting two attacks on health facilities experienced by Iran during the week-long Israeli assault on Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities, as well as energy, telecom and oil infrastructure.  

“Following an airstrike on Tehran three days ago, three Iranian Red Crescent Society health workers were killed while reportedly rescuing injured people,” Tedros added. “On the same day, a hospital in Kermanshah was impacted by a nearby explosion, causing damage to the intensive care unit. As a result, around 15 staff and patients were injured.

“We call on all parties to protect health facilities, health personnel and patients at all times,” said Tedros, adding his signature slogan, “The best medicine is peace.”

Israelis and Iranian civilians both caught up in the exchanges 

The war began with a surprise attack by Israel early Friday, 13 June, on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, with Israel saying that the Islamic Republic was on the verge of completing the development of a nuclear weapon.

According to independent human rights observers, an estimated  639 Iranians have died so far in the conflict – the lower numbers published by the regime is only partial data, they say. Meanwhile, 24 Israelis have died in daily waves of Iranian missile attacks – from missile that evaded Israel’s “Iron Dome” air defense system.  

“The Islamic Republic has targeted residential areas in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and elsewhere. Casualties would be far higher if not for the high percentage of Islamic Republic attacks that have been intercepted by the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as the presence of an extensive system of shelters and warning sirens throughout Israel,” noted the New York City-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. The group called for an immediate cease-fire by both sides.

Thursday’s early morning missile blast that hit Soroka hospital was part of the largest volleys to penetrate the countru’s defenses since the first day of the war. Explosives hit four other sites in the Tel Aviv area cities of Holon and Ramat Gan, destroying multi-story buildings, and leading to dozens of injuries, six seriously. 

Some 35,000 homes in Israel have been damaged in the war so far, with 1000 more Israeli families displaced on Thursday from high-rises and neighborhoods that suffered the worst impacts of the half-ton Iranian missiles. 

Meanwhile, dozens of Iranian residential buildings have suffered hits and hundreds of thousands of Iranians have fled the capital of Tehran, and other strategically-placed areas, following Israeli warnings to evacuate areas near key military and government assets.  

Gazans languish in conflict and hunger

While the world focuses on the Israel-Iran war, only a few dozen kilometers away from Soroka hospital, besieged Gaza continues to languish in the throes of the ongoing Israeli battle with Hamas forces, along with persistent food and fuel shortages. Some 53 Israeli hostages also remain in Hamas captivity, and time is running out for the estimated 20 still believed to be alive after more than 621 days living underground on meager rations and with minimal medical care, their families warn. 

Heavy Israeli attacks in southern Gaza forced two key hospitals,  Al Nasser and Al Amal, to curtail or halt services this month.  Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders to several neighborhoods in northern Gaza, while food distribution sites of the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) have seen continued chaos – and death.

In the latest incident, on Tuesday, lethal Israeli fire allegedly killed several dozen people near food distribution points, according to eyewitness reports and Gaza’s Hamas health authorities.  GHF, meanwhile, accused Hamas of killing eight Palestinian aid workers last week in an ambush of a bus transporting some two dozen team workers. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office, OCHCR, called upon Israel to cease the use of lethal force around the GHF food distribution sites. 

“We are horrified at the repeated incidents, continuously reported in recent days across Gaza, and we call for an immediate end to these senseless killings,” said the  OCHCR statement. 

Image Credits: Emmanual Fabian/Times of Israel, Emmanuel Fabian/Times of Israel , Israel Public Television, x/@DavidShoebridge, © UNOCHA/Olga Cherevko.