Israel has power to destroy 'all of Iran's nuclear facilities', says Netanyahu

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel had already destroyed "more than half" of Iran's missile launchers and was "capable of striking all of Iran's nuclear facilities".

In an interview with the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Netanyahu said seven days into the war, Israeli forces were ahead of schedule in their offensive against Iranian nuclear and missile sites, although he did not give a timeline for an end to the Israeli attacks.

The change or fall of Iran's leadership was not a goal of Israel's attacks but could be a result, he also said.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced in a statement that it had launched a broad aerial campaign across Iran, including a strike targeting the inactive Arak nuclear reactor in western Iran.

Also on Thursday, missiles fired from Iran struck a hospital and residential buildings in Israel, wounding more than 30 people, according to Israeli health authorities and local media.

Iran's state news agency IRNA, however, said Iran targeted Israel's military intelligence facilities in its strikes on the southern part of the country on Thursday morning, not a hospital as was reported by some media outlets.

This latest exchange of fire marks a sharp escalation in hostilities that erupted after Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on June 13.