A seven-year-old girl who was injured in the unprecedented Iranian missile attack on Israel is fighting for her life in hospital after being hit in the head by shrapnel at her home at 2am, her family revealed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Iran launched 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and at least 120 ballistic missiles in an attack that has escalated conflict in the Middle East and sparked fears of a Third World War.
IDF spokesman Dangiel Hagari revealed that “99 percent” of the missiles launched on Saturday were intercepted overnight, but that a girl, now locally named Amina al-Hassouni, was “seriously injured by shrapnel.” .
Amina, from the Bedouin town of Al-Fur’ah in southern Israel, is now in critical condition after being hit by shrapnel that landed on the roof of the family home at 2 a.m. Israel Times reports.
The young woman’s brother told her Haaretz how he lost consciousness and was unresponsive. Her parents then rushed her by car to Arad, before she was taken by ambulance to Soroka Medical Center.
The remains of a rocket booster that Israel says seriously injured a seven-year-old girl
Residents carry the remains of a rocket booster that allegedly injured seven-year-old Amina.
The medical center confirmed that he is now in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit receiving treatment for a significant head injury.
Soroka said eight other people had arrived with minor injuries, some also hit by shrapnel.
The attack was launched in response to an attack widely attributed to Israel on an Iranian consular building in Syria earlier this month, which killed two Iranian generals.
Syria has said Iran exercised its “right to self-defense” in the attack on Israel.
It is the first direct military attack launched by Tehran against Israel, despite a long-standing feud dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The latest development brought to light years of shadow war between the two enemies, as the conflict in Gaza inflames decades-old tensions in the Middle East.
Britain and the United States have offered strong support to Israel, although Tehran has threatened a “tougher” response if Washington cooperates in any further military action.
After Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel near Arad, these are the remains of a booster rocket that allegedly injured Amina.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured) condemned “in the strongest terms” Iran’s “reckless attack” and vowed to “continue to defend Israel’s security.”
The attack drones were intercepted by the RAF in Syria and Iraq, where it was already operating as part of the Operation Shader mission against the Islamic State group.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said RAF aircraft shot down “several” Iranian drones and condemned the attacks as “dangerous and unnecessary.” He warned that it would have been “difficult to overstate” the consequences for regional stability if Iran had succeeded.
Speaking to reporters in Downing Street on Sunday, Sunak called for “calm to prevail” following the event.
He said: ‘I can confirm that our aircraft shot down several Iranian attack drones. I want to pay tribute to the bravery and professionalism of our pilots who face danger to protect civilians.
“If this attack had been successful, it would be difficult to exaggerate the consequences for regional stability, and we defend the security of Israel and the region in general, which of course is important for our security here at home.”
The prime minister will join other G7 leaders for urgent talks this afternoon amid fears of further escalation in the event of a possible Israeli counterattack.
Additional RAF aircraft were deployed this weekend to reinforce the UK presence.
A destroyed building was targeted by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Nabi Sheet in Baablbek.
People gather around a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Nabi Sheet in Baablbek district in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley on April 14, 2024.
US President Joe Biden meets with members of the National Security Council about the missile attacks underway against Israel.
An Iranian man holds a scale model of a cannon shell during a celebration in support of Iran’s attack on Israel yesterday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sejourne and German Foreign Minister Annlena Baerbock joined a growing chorus of Western leaders urging against escalation.
The US president said he would convene a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) of advanced democracies on Sunday “to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.”
The language indicates that the Biden administration does not want the Iran attack to escalate into a broader military conflict after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant suggested the incident is “not over yet.”
A senior US official said the United States had informed Israel that it did not plan to attack Iran itself.