Live: Iran holds funeral for top military, nuclear figures killed in Israeli strikes

Iran has imposed a nationwide internet shutdown for the past 24 hours, internet watchdog NetBlocks reported. 

"The ongoing blackout incident is the most severe tracked since the November 2019 protests and impacts the public's ability to stay connected at a time when communications are vital," the watchdog said in a post on X. 
 

Alerts were activated across Israel following the launch of missiles from Iran, the Israeli military announced. 

"The public is asked to obey the Home Front Command's instructions," the army urged in a post on X, adding that the air force is working to intercept the attacks. 

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps issued expulsion notices in Dimona, the site of Israel's major nuclear facility in the Negev Desert, according to Israeli media. 

"The occupation must evacuate the Dimona reactor immediately," the orders read.

Israel's Interior Ministry has defined 5,110 people as homeless since the start of exchanged attacks between Tel Aviv and Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth reports.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the losses of Israelis impacted during missile exchanges with Iran to his son's cancelled wedding plans.

The comments were made during a media appearance at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, which was impacted earlier on Thursday after an Iranian missile hit a nearby target. 

"The entire people of Israel are paying a price. We are going through a blitz, and we are going through it in an astonishing way. There are personal costs, people have been hurt, families have lost their loved ones.

"Each of us bears a personal cost, and this did not escape my family - this is the second time that Benny Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancée as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost."

Yoav Gallant, Israel's former minister of defence, says this week is the one where US president Donald Trump has to make a decision to intervene in Israel's current war on Iran. 

"Should he, or should he not, use American air power to finish the job Israel has very nearly completed, ensuring that Iran never possesses nuclear weapons?" Gallant and British historian Niall Ferguson wrote in a piece in The Free Press.

The two indicated that the support of allies, especially the US, has been essential for Israel.

"Now, with a single exertion of its unmatched military strength, the United States can shorten the war, prevent wider escalation, and end the principal threat to Middle Eastern stability," they added.

Gallant and Ferguson stress that a US intervention would "send a signal to those other authoritarian powers who have been Iran’s enablers that American deterrence is back."

Gallant has an outstanding International Criminal Court warrant against him for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

Iranian ballistic missile struck several areas of Israel on Thursday, with extensive damage reported at the Israeli stock exchange building in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, as well as a major hospital in the south of the country.

Images seen by Middle East Eye showed shattered glass and debris strewn onto the streets outside the stock exchange, the heart of the country's economy, with damage also reported at several nearby offices and residential buildings.

Meanwhile, unverified footage posted on social media showed people running through corridors of the Soroko Hospital in Beer Sheva as doctors stood outside the wrecked building.

"BREAKING: A direct hit has been reported at Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, southern Israel. More details to follow," the foreign ministry said in a post on X.

A spokesperson for the hospital reported "damage to the hospital and extensive damage in various areas".

Read more: Iranian missiles rain down on Tel Aviv after Israel attacks Arak nuclear reactor

Turkey has reinforced security along its border with Iran as the conflict between Israel and Iran escalates, a Turkish Defence Ministry source told Reuters.

The official, speaking anonymously, said there had been no signs of irregular migration from across the border so far.

According to the source, Turkey is pressing ahead with efforts to build a multi-layered air and missile defence system, relying on homegrown radar and weapon technologies. The strategy aims to maintain a high level of combat readiness amid the shifting regional dynamics.

The source also noted that Turkey’s Quick Reaction Alert aircraft were deployed after Israel launched strikes on Iran. These jets have continued to patrol Turkish airspace in response to potential violations by foreign aircraft.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have jointly condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran during a phone call on Thursday, according to statements from both Moscow and Beijing.

The two leaders called for an immediate end to hostilities and stressed the importance of resolving the crisis through diplomatic channels.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Putin and Xi "strongly condemn Israel's actions" and believe a resolution must be achieved “exclusively by political and diplomatic means”.

Chinese state media said Xi urged Israel to halt its military operations, calling a ceasefire the “top priority”. He warned against further escalation, saying, “Armed force is not the correct way to resolve international disputes,” and added that parties involved, “especially Israel, should cease hostilities as soon as possible to prevent a cyclical escalation and resolutely avoid the spillover of the war".

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a resolution to end the fighting between Israel and Iran is achievable, while warning that Israeli strikes have only strengthened public support for Iran’s leadership.

Speaking during a televised meeting with foreign journalists, including AFP, Putin said, “We see that today in Iran there is a consolidation of society around the country's political leadership.”

He rejected the idea of assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying he did “not even wish to discuss” such a scenario.

“This is a delicate issue, and of course we need to be very careful here, but in my opinion, a solution can be found,” Putin added in regards to an agreement between the two sides.

The Russian leader suggested any deal should address both Israel’s security concerns and Iran’s right to a civilian nuclear programme. “I believe it would be good for all of us together to look for ways to stop the fighting and seek ways for the participants in the conflict to find an agreement,” he said.

Putin also revealed that over 200 Russian personnel are currently stationed at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility, which was built by Russia’s Rosatom. He said Moscow would continue to support Iran’s civilian nuclear ambitions while ensuring that Israel’s security interests are maintained.

Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has warned that any attempt to target Iran’s religious and political leadership would trigger “dire consequences on the region.”

In a statement, al-Sistani cautioned that such an act could unleash “widespread chaos that would exacerbate the suffering of [the region’s] people and severely harm everyone’s interests.”

The revered cleric, seen as the highest authority for millions of Shia Muslims in Iraq and beyond, urged world powers to act.

He called on the international community to “make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution” to the ongoing conflict.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has once again demanded a crackdown on Al Jazeera’s presence in Israel, claiming the network poses a “threat” to national security.

Speaking in a brief televised statement, carried live by Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera Mubasher, Ben-Gvir also urged police to take action against individuals found watching the channel inside the country.

His remarks come weeks after Israel formally banned Al Jazeera’s journalists and staff from operating within its borders in early May 2024.

The Palestinian Authority imposed a similar ban months earlier, in January, effectively blocking the network’s coverage from the occupied West Bank.

In a letter addressed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the acting head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Dr. Salah Abdel Haq, expressed full solidarity with Tehran in the wake of recent Israeli strikes. “We reaffirm our full support for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of the brutal Israeli aggression,” he wrote in a post published on X, offering condolences for the “martyred leaders, scholars, and innocent Iranian citizens.”

Dr. Abdel Haq described the Israeli attacks as a broader assault on the resistance axis in the region, saying they mark “a new phase of aggression against Palestine,” driven by Tel Aviv’s goal of weakening regional powers with the backing of the United States and other Western states.

Framing the confrontation as part of a shared struggle, he said, “We are one nation, in the religious, spiritual, civilisational, and geopolitical senses alike.” He warned that Israel “does not differentiate between our ethnicities or sects,” and urged unity across Islamic movements.

“Our primary weapon… is the unity of the Islamic Ummah,” he stated, calling on Muslim forces to overcome past divisions and redirect their focus toward confronting the “Zionist entity.”

Citing the words of the Brotherhood’s founder, Hassan al-Banna, Haq affirmed a vision of overcoming sectarianism: “We strive to bring viewpoints closer together… no jurisprudential opinion or sectarian disagreement will separate us.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that Iran will face serious consequences following a missile strike that damaged Soroka Medical Centre in Be’er Sheva.

In a post on X, Netanyahu said, “This morning, Iran’s terrorist dictators fired missiles at Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva and at civilians in the centre of the country. We will make the tyrants in Tehran pay a heavy price.” 

Iran has denied that Soroka Medical Centre was the intended target of Thursday’s missile barrage, despite the hospital sustaining damage from nearby explosions.

The facility, which has treated Israeli soldiers wounded in Gaza, sits between two key military sites within the Gav-Yam Technology Park in Be’er Sheva.

These include the Israeli army’s main intelligence headquarters and a central command centre, both reportedly vital to cyber operations and digital warfare systems, including IDF C4I and C4ISR infrastructure.

According to Iranian accounts, the hospital was affected by shockwaves from strikes on nearby military targets, but was not directly hit.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman has condemned the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi and accused the organisation of helping to justify Israel’s recent strikes by publishing a “biased” assessments of Iran’s nuclear programme.

Esmaeil Baghaei said the IAEA’s reports were used by Western powers as a tool to fabricate allegations of non-compliance and lay the groundwork for military action.

Responding to Grossi’s recent remark that there was no concrete evidence Iran is developing nuclear weapons, Baghaei said: “This is too late.”

In a post on X, he wrote: “You obscured this truth in your absolutely biased report that was instrumentalised by E3/US [France, Germany, the UK and the US] to craft a resolution with baseless allegation of ‘non-compliance’.”

He went on to say the resolution “was then utilised, as a final pretext, by a genocidal warmongering regime to wage a war of aggression on Iran and to launch an unlawful attack on our peaceful nuclear facilities.”

Baghaei accused Grossi of betraying the non-proliferation framework and said the IAEA had become “a partner to this unjust war of aggression”.

“Do you know how many innocent Iranians have been killed/maimed as a result of this criminal war?” he asked, warning that “misleading narratives have dire consequences, Mr. Grossi, and demand accountability.”