Israel’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that 14 Israelis have been killed and at least 2,745 have been injured in Iranian missile and drone attacks since late last month, as the bloody war shows little sign of calming.
A ministry statement added that 85 people are still hospitalised, including 11 in serious condition.
The ministry said that 179 people were injured in Iranian attacks in the last 24 hours, including four moderately and 18 from shockwaves.
According to the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, 14 Israelis have been killed in Iranian attacks since the start of a joint US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28.
Israel imposes strict censorship on reporting casualties caused by missiles launched by Iran and Hezbollah or intercepted by its defences and also prohibits the circulation of related footage.
Israel and the US have continued a joint offensive on Iran since February 28, killing some 1,300 people, including numerous top officials.
Tehran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and several other Arab Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.
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Last night, Iran’s paramilitary group, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had carried out the 40th wave of retaliatory strikes, referred to in Tehran as “Operation True Promise 4,” launching “decisive strikes against hostile targets throughout the region.”
According to the IRGC, the latest phase of the operation involved the firing of a host of Iranian missiles called Qadr, Emad, Kheibar Shekan, and Fattah against targets in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The strikes were conducted jointly with the fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group the statement added.
Lebanon death toll rises
Seven people were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon Thursday, as Tel Aviv continued to escalate its offensive on the Arab country, Lebanese media said.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, citing a Health Ministry statement, said three people were killed and a child was injured in a dawn strike in the village of Aramoun in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Three more people were killed and others injured when an Israeli strike targeted the town of Barish in the Tyre District, the agency said.
Another Israeli drone strike hit a car in the town of Deir Antar, killing one person, according to NNA.
On March 2, Lebanese group Hezbollah began attacking Israeli military sites in response to repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the killing of Iran’s then-Leader Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli strike.
Battle for the Straits
The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Naval Force says any vessel seeking to sail through the Strait of Hormuz must obtain Iran’s approval; otherwise, it could become a target of Iranian attacks.
In a post on his X account on Wednesday, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said that two ships that had ignored Iran’s warnings were targeted in the Strait earlier that day.
Tangsiri ridiculed the US government’s pledges to escort and protect vessels transiting the waterway, calling them “hollow promises.”
“Were the ships assured of safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz? This should be asked of the crews of the vessels Express Rome and Mayuree Naree, who today, trusting in empty promises, ignored the warnings and intended to cross the Strait, but were caught,” the general said in a Farsi-language post.
“Any vessel intending to pass must obtain permission from Iran,” he added.
Iran has intensified its restrictions on the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz amid an ongoing US-Israeli war of aggression against the country.
US President Donald Trump also said Wednesday that the US is closely watching the Straits of Hormuz in the Middle East after asserting that American forces destroyed Iranian naval vessels during an ongoing military operation.
“Now we’re going to look very strongly at the straits. The straits are in great shape. We’ve knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many,” he told reporters.
Trump said he believes the US is in “very good shape” in its war with Iran.
“The main thing is we have to win this,” he added.
“They are absolutely being destroyed. Iran is being absolutely decimated. That’s all I can say,” Trump said.
Iran is “pretty much at the end of the line,’ the president said, but added that it does not mean “we’re going to end it immediately, but they are.”
Trump claimed that Iran has “no systems of control,” saying “we’re just riding free range over that country.”
