In the hours following the missile strike that caused significant damage at Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva on Thursday, Iranian media issued statements framing the attack as a deliberate strike on an IDF installation rather than a hospital.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA claimed the primary target was “the Israeli army’s intelligence and command center” located in the Gev-Yam Negev Advanced Technologies Park near the hospital.
Iranian simulation showing alleged tank storage under the hospital
According to the report, the facility housed thousands of military personnel, cyber and digital command systems and IDF control infrastructure. IRNA added that the hospital was damaged only by the blast wave and was not directly targeted.
Iranian outlets rejected reports of a direct hit on the hospital as “Israeli manipulation,” suggesting Jerusalem was attempting to deflect attention from damage inflicted on what Tehran described as a legitimate military target.
Iranian media further claimed that in recent days, Israel had struck civilian hospitals in Tehran and Kermanshah and alleged that the Israeli hospital was being used to treat IDF soldiers wounded in Gaza.
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A channel affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has been claiming responsibility for attacks, asserted that the strike was aimed at “a military medical facility for soldiers at Soroka Military Hospital”—a term Iran used despite Soroka being a civilian institution.
One Iranian outlet released a fabricated simulation video purporting to show tanks housed in an underground military storage beneath the hospital.
The IRGC addressed Thursday morning’s barrage, saying, “This morning, a joint attack was carried out using drones and strategic missiles. The Israeli military command center near the hospital was accurately targeted,” the IRGC said in a statement.
“The intelligence and targeting capabilities of Iranian forces are now on display to the world. We’ve already warned that the skies over the occupied territories are no longer secure. There is no safe place, and now we warn that the Zionist regime will not withstand the economic blows to come. We will take revenge on the criminals.”