Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the impact site at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba along with the health minister and the mayor of Beersheba on Thursday after a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles struck the area.
"What we're seeing here shows the entire difference," Netanyahu said. "We strike nuclear and missile targets with precision, and they strike a hospital, where people can't even get up and run.
"There's a children's and infants' ward here. This is the entire difference between a democracy that acts according to law to save itself from these murderers, and these murderers who want to destroy each and every one of us. Every single one of us. Until the last of us."
Iran struck Soroka Medical Center in the early morning hours on Thursday with a barrage of ballistic missiles.
Defrin at the site of impact
IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said at the site, "We cannot allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. We cannot allow Iran to obtain ballistic missiles. It is an existential threat for Israel."
"This is exactly the face of this regime, it's a terror regime," Defrin said. "We are targeting military targets, and they are targeting civilians. They are aiming to kill as many civilians as they can. And this is exactly why we launched this operation."