This is what the Soroka Hospital, which Iran attacked with a missile in southern Israel, looked like: Why were there no deaths?

On Thursday morning, an Iranian missile struck the Israeli Soroka Hospital in the Beersheba region of southern Israel. The incident left 72 people injured, all with minor injuries, and extensive damage to the operating room.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, the hospital's deputy director, Dror Dolfin, explained that there were "very few people" in the affected building because patients had been moved to safe locations over the past week in anticipation of a missile strike.

Images show the entrance to the damaged wing of the hospital, the largest in southern Israel, and the impact area of ​​the Iranian missile, where the extent of the destruction can be seen.

Authorities report that the damage has called into question the safety of the entire building.

Two hospital employees told The Associated Press that the impact occurred almost immediately after sirens sounded and staff rushed to secure rooms.

According to Dolfin, Soroke is a hospital "that has experienced very difficult situations for many years," having been hit by rockets fired from Gaza before.

"So we're very used to anticipating , protecting, and moving facilities from one place to another, trying to avoid harming human life," he said.

Regarding the missile impact, the deputy director said, "It was incredible." "Buildings hundreds of meters high now have no windows. They were completely destroyed," he said, but added that the hospital continues to operate because it has many sheltered areas where work can continue.

"The emergency department is working. We have other operating tables. The trauma service is working. This hospital is working ," he said.

In addition to Beersheba, the area where Soroka Hospital is located, impacts were reported in Holon and Ramat Gan, both in the Tel Aviv district, where at least three people were seriously injured and two others were evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition, according to Israeli emergency services.

Hours later, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that the missile's target was an Israeli intelligence headquarters, not the hospital.

"Just today, our powerful armed forces precisely eliminated an Israeli Command, Control and Military Intelligence Headquarters and another vital target," Araqchi said in a message on his X account.

According to the minister, "the blast wave caused superficial damage to a small section of the nearby Soroka Military Hospital, which was largely evacuated."

The Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel explains that the nearest military base to Soroka is about two kilometers away, but the Iranian minister published a map that, according to what it says, the medical center is separated from an Israeli army "intelligence campus" by a street.

Iran said this center "is primarily used to treat Israeli soldiers participating in the genocide in Gaza," noting that Israel "has destroyed or damaged 94% of Palestinian hospitals."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared shortly afterward that a man like Iran's supreme leader "can no longer be allowed" to continue to exist.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured in a press conference from the attacked hospital that Israel will "disappear" the threat of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missiles.

"Our objective is twofold: nuclear and ballistic. We will eliminate them. We are in the process of finalizing the eradication of this threat ," he declared.

On the seventh day of the unprecedented conflict between the two great Middle East rivals, US President Donald Trump, an ally of Israel, did not rule out military action to disrupt Iran's nuclear program, accused of trying to develop atomic weapons.