Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz hinted that assassinating Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be part of their attack plans after a ballistic missile strike targeted a hospital.

On Thursday, an Iranian ballistic missile struck the Soroka Medical Center in the city of Beersheba, as part of a wider salvo that heavily damaged other residential high-rise buildings. The strike hit a building in the complex that had been largely evacuated in previous days, injuring 40 people, none of them seriously. The strike was met with widespread outrage in Israel, with Katz reviving the possibility of assassinating Khamenei, whom he held personally responsible.

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“The objectives of the war are to remove the nuclear threat, eliminate sources of destruction, and neutralize missile threats. Within this framework, the IDF has been instructed and knows that to achieve all the objectives, without question, this man should no longer continue to exist,” Katz said.

The defense minister took his rhetoric to the maximum, drawing parallels between Khamenei and Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.

“I compare it to the scenario in which, during the horrific Holocaust, if the State of Israel had existed and a strong Israel Defense Forces had existed, and we knew we could send the IDF into a bunker to capture the enemy of the Jewish people, Hitler, in order to thwart his plan to annihilate the Jews, we would have done it,” he said.

“We would have sent the IDF, extracted him, and eliminated him. And just like that, correspondingly, I see the current situation — Khamenei is the modern Hitler,” Katz added.

Speaking at the site of the hospital missile attack, he elaborated on his analogy.

“This is a man who has stood at the head of a powerful nation for decades and has great ideological influence,” Katz said. “He uses it and openly says he supports the destruction of Israel. He mobilizes all available resources, even at the expense of his own people, for this purpose. And today, we see proof that he is personally giving the order to fire on hospitals and residential buildings. These [repeated missile strikes on civilian targets] are not a statistical deviation that can be explained away — he sees this as part of the mission to destroy the State of Israel.”

He outlined a more concrete strategy against Khamenei in a post on X, saying Israel’s intent was to undermine Tehran.

“The cowardly Iranian dictator sits in the depths of the fortified bunker and fires aimed shots at hospitals and residential buildings in Israel,” he said. “These are war crimes of the most serious kind – and Khamenei will be held accountable for his crimes.”

“The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to increase the intensity of attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against government targets in Tehran in order to remove threats to the State of Israel and undermine the ayatollahs’ regime,” Katz added.

Reports earlier this week claimed that Israel had identified and was preparing to assassinate Khamenei as part of its wider decapitation strikes that killed Iran’s senior military leadership, but President Donald Trump vetoed the idea. However, on Tuesday, the president taunted Khamenei by suggesting the U.S. knew where he was hiding and may choose to assassinate him in the future.

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, referring to Khamenei. “He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Khamenei has stood defiant in response, saying Iran wouldn’t be receptive to threats.

“Intelligent people who know Iran, the nation, and the history of Iran will never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because the Iranian nation cannot be surrendered,” Khamenei said. “The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage.”

He added that Iran “will stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace.”

After Katz’s Thursday threat, Hezbollah warned that the assassination of Khamenei would have “grave consequences,” denouncing threats from Israel and the U.S. as “foolish and reckless,” the New York Times reported.

Tellingly, the militant group didn’t promise a military response if the ayatollah was assassinated, a move in line with its empty rhetoric over the past week since the war between Israel and Iran began. The change is in stark contrast to its public pronouncements in years past, suggesting its recent war with Israel left it severely weakened.

Tom Barrack, a U.S. envoy, visited Beirut on Thursday to meet with senior Lebanese officials, delivering a warning to Hezbollah.

“I can say on behalf of President Trump, which he has been very clear in expressing, as has special envoy Witkoff — that would be a very, very, very bad decision,” he said.

KHAMENEI REJECTS TRUMP’S CALL FOR SURRENDER, ISSUES WARNING IF US INTERVENES

Trump has publicly mulled the decision of whether or not to intervene to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

Since hostilities began with a devastating Israeli surprise attack in the early hours of June 13, 24 Israelis have been killed and hundreds injured. Iran’s casualties have been much more grave, with a Washington-based Iranian human rights group estimating the casualty count at 639 dead, 263 of them civilians, and over 1,300 wounded, the New York Times reported. Iran’s casualty counts are hard to confirm due to an almost complete internet blackout.