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Israel-Iran War Day 19
March 18, 2026
An elderly man is in critical condition after collapsing in a shelter following a cell broadcast warning of incoming ballistic missiles from Iran, medics said.
Medics said they evacuated the 71-year-old from the shelter in Rishon Letzion, central Israel, to Shamir-Assaf Harofeh Hospital in critical condition, adding that they were doing CPR en route to the hospital.
The U.S. military struck Iranian missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz with 5,000-pound (2,270-kilogram) bunker busters, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement, adding that the strikes were successful.
"The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait," CENTCOM said in a statement.
Rescue teams were called to 34 impact sites across Israel overnight into Wednesday due to Iranian and Hezbollah missile barrages, Israel's Fire and Rescue Service said, adding that eight of them were significant.
The impact sites included a fatal cluster bomb strike that killed an elderly couple in Tel Aviv's suburb of Ramat Gan, a strike on Tel Aviv's Savidor Central railway station, a direct hit on a house in northern Israel's Karmiel that wounded one person, a warehouse fire in Mishmar Hashiva, central Israel, and a brush fire near Jerusalem.
The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of all Lebanese residing south of the Zahrani River, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) north of the Litani River and about 40 kilometers from the Israeli border, saying soldiers are "using force" against Hezbollah.
"The airstrikes are ongoing as the Israel Defense Forces operate with significant force in the area," the IDF said in a statement in Arabic.
"Remaining south of the Zahrani River may endanger your lives and the lives of your families," the statement read. "Any movement southward may endanger your lives."
Iran's stance against the development of nuclear weapons won't significantly change, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera in remarks relayed by Iranian media on Wednesday, cautioning that the new supreme leader is yet to publicly express his view on the matter.
Former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed early in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, opposed the development of weapons of mass destruction in a fatwa, or religious edict, issued in the early 2000s.
Western countries, including the U.S. and Israel, have for years accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, while Iranian authorities have said their nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes.
Araghchi said fatwas depend on the Islamic jurist issuing them and added he was not yet in a position to judge the jurisprudential or political views of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said the U.S. and Israel did not understand that the Islamic Republic was a robust political system and did not depend on any single individual.
The death of senior officials would not disrupt governance and the state would continue to function, Araghchi said in the interview with Al Jazeera.
Araghchi also told Al Jazeera that Iranian strikes were not limited to U.S. bases because the U.S. deployed its forces outside military bases and into urban areas.
"Wherever there were American forces gathering, wherever there were facilities belonging to them, they were targeted. It is possible some of these places were near urban areas," the top Iranian diplomat said.
Earlier this week, the IDF also said it had killed the commander of the “Imam Hussein Division” in Beirut, a week after taking out his predecessor.
In the letter, Amir Saeid Iravani said the UAE’s decision to allow its territory to be used for the strikes constituted "an internationally wrongful act that entailed state responsibility."
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