Israel attacks Iranian nuclear sites, missile damages Israeli hospital

Israel struck a key Iranian nuclear site on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital, as U.S. President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether his country would join Israel in airstrikes seeking to destroy Tehran's nuclear facilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to press on with Israel's biggest-ever attack on Iran until his arch enemy's nuclear program is destroyed, said Tehran's "tyrants" would pay the "full price".

His Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed to intensify strikes on strategic-related targets in Tehran in order to eliminate the threat to Israel and destabilize the "Ayatollah regime".

Netanyahu has said that Israel's military attacks could result in the toppling of Iran's leaders, and Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the "existential threat" posed by Tehran.

A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel.

The Israeli military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear site near Iran's central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.

Iranian media reported two projectiles hitting an area near the facility. There were no reports of radiation threats.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it had information that the heavy-water research reactor under construction there had been hit, but did not contain radioactive material. It had no information that a separate plant there which makes heavy water had been hit.

Israel's military said it also struck a site in the area of Natanz, which it said contains components and specialized equipment used to advance nuclear weapons development.

Iran has always denied planning to build an atomic weapon and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Israel is widely presumed to have a nuclear arsenal of its own, though it does not confirm or deny this.

WATCH: CGTN correspondent Rahul Pathak looks at Iran's nuclear facilities and their current status.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei criticized UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi and accused the IAEA of being a partner to an "unjust war of aggression" initiated by Israel.

In a post on X, Baghaei responded to an interview with CNN in which Grossi said there was no evidence of a systematic Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons.

"This is too late, Mr. Grossi," Baghaei wrote, adding that an IAEA resolution last week declaring Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had been used as a pretext for Israel's strikes.

Missiles damage hospital in Israel

On Thursday morning, several Iranian missiles struck populated areas in Israel, including a hospital in the southern part of the country.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they were targeting Israeli military and intelligence headquarters near Soroka medical center in the city of Beersheba in the south of the country.

Israel's health ministry said several people sustained minor injuries, and that there was limited damage to the hospital's emergency room and other buildings which did not impair the hospital's ability to operate.The strike came four days after an Israeli missile strike damaged a hospital in Iran's western province of Kermanshah.

Israel's defense minister Israel Katz said Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist" after the hospital attack.

The strike came four days after an Israeli missile strike damaged a hospital in Iran's western province of Kermanshah.

The week of Iranian missile salvoes marks the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defenses, killing Israelis in their homes.

Trails of missiles and interception efforts were visible in the skies over Tel Aviv, with explosions heard as incoming projectiles were intercepted.

Emergency services said five people had been seriously injured in the attacks and dozens of others hurt in three separate locations. People were still trapped in a building in a south Tel Aviv neighborhood, they added.

Buildings were also extensively damaged in Ramat Gan, a key commercial hub home to high-rise towers, after a direct strike on a residential building in the neighborhood east of Tel Aviv.

The blast caused significant damage to nearby residential buildings and shattered windows across the area.

Israel fighting on several fronts; Trump plays coy

The worst-ever conflict between the two regional powers has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and further destabilize the Middle East. Oil prices surged after Israel said it attacked Iranian nuclear sites overnight, as investors grapple with fears of a broader conflict that could disrupt crude supplies.

Israel, which has the most advanced military in the Middle East, has been effectively fighting on several fronts since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack triggered the Gaza war. 

It has pounded Iran's regional allies, the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah, with fierce military campaigns and assassinations of their top leaders, and bombed Yemen's Houthis.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's air campaign.

"I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," he said.

Trump has said the war could end if Iran quickly agrees to sharp curbs on its nuclear program. Tehran has said it will not negotiate while under attack. Nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, due last Sunday, were canceled.

In an effort to restart negotiations, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi on Friday in Geneva, a German diplomatic source told Reuters.

Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the war to suggesting the United States might join it. On Tuesday he mused on social media about killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, then demanded Iran's unconditional surrender.

China evacuates 1,600 from Iran and hundreds from Israel

China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, as evacuees clog border crossings amid the intensifying conflict between the two countries.

Evacuation efforts are continuing and China has maintained communication with Iran, Israel, Egypt and Oman, spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference while calling for immediate measures to cool down tensions as soon as possible.

China urges parties to the conflict, especially Israel, to immediately cease fire, Guo said.

The Chinese embassy in Iran renewed calls for citizens to leave the country via land routes, while also warning people about longer immigration processing time as congestion has formed at two border checkpoints – Astara heading into Azerbaijan and Bajgiran into Turkmenistan.

Those border crossing points are 490 kilometers and 910 kilometers away from Tehran, respectively.

Chinese people can also leave Iran via Türkiye, Armenia and Iraq, the embassy advised.

Earlier on Thursday, China's embassy in Israel said it will begin evacuating people in batches from Friday, taking those who want to leave to the Taba Border Crossing into Egypt via bus, about 360 kilometers from Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, videos posted on social media showed gridlocked traffic as Iranians tried to leave the capital Tehran. Many headed for the Turkish border.

Israel has continued to fly home citizens stranded overseas during the seven-day conflict with Iran, carrying them from Cyprus, the closest EU country to Israel. Israeli airspace has been closed since the conflict broke out last Friday.