Israel and Iran increase the escalation of a conflict that already leaves at least 138 dead and dozens of injured

A soldier in the middle of a vehicle and debris — Photo foot, An Israeli soldier in an area of Tamra, northern Israel, seriously affected by Iranian missiles.

Author, Writing
Author's title, BBC News World
15 June 2025, 10:08 gmt

Updated 5 hours

The tension between Israel and Iran continues to increase after the attacks that both countries have exchanged since Friday.

Israeli emergency services reported that ten people died and more than one hundred were injured by Iran missile attacks on Saturday night.

Among the victims are four women of the same family in the town of Tamra, in the north of the country.

According to the police, six people, including two children, died in the city of Bat Yam, in the center of Israel.

There, rescuers seek, among the debris of destroyed buildings, to missing people.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, moved to the area, where he said they will pay “a very high price” for civilians' deaths and urged the population to follow the security instructions of the authorities.

Previously, the Israeli army had executed attacks against Tehran that, according to the Army, had as objectives buildings linked to the Iranian nuclear program and an oil tank, in what seems to be the first attack against the country's energy infrastructure.

Iranian media, which cite to the Ministry of Health of that country, pointed out on Sunday that, until noon on Saturday, 128 dead and around 900 wounded by Israeli attacks had been recorded.

Also on Sunday, without offering a total number of deaths, Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokesman for the Iranian government, reported that at least 30 women and children have died in the last three days.

On Friday, the Iranian representative before the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, had indicated that 78 people died and at least 320 were injured by Israeli attacks. The “overwhelming majority,” he said, were civilians.

Israel has said that its objectives are Iranian military facilities, including nuclear infrastructure.

BBC journalists cannot enter Iran due to restrictions imposed by the government of that country, which makes it difficult to obtain information on the damage caused by the Israeli offensive.

Notices to the civilian population

On Friday the Netanyahu government began the so -called Nascent Leon operation, with which it has been attacking nuclear facilities and other Iranian military objectives.

The Israel Defense Forces (FDI) justified the beginning of the offensive for the “continuous aggression of the regime” of Tehran.

A man grabs his head to see a collapsed infrastructure — Photo foot, In this Friday photo, rescuers and civilian population are observed in a building seriously damaged by Israeli attacks in Tehran.

A group of rescuers among the rubble of a building — Photo foot, In this photo on Sunday, rescuers in Bat Yam, center of Israel, look for missing people among the rubble of a partially collapsed residential building after the Iranian attack.

In the operation, key figures of the Iran armed forces and outstanding scientists of its nuclear program died.

Iran launched dozens of ballistic missiles to Israel on Friday night, in what Tehran described as the beginning of its “overwhelming response” to Israeli attacks.

On Sunday, the IDF reported that, within the framework of the operation, more than 170 objectives and 720 military infrastructure components in Iran have hit.

Tehran, meanwhile, launched missiles against the center and north of Israel, after the Israeli army confirmed a series of attacks against facilities of its nuclear infrastructure.

On Sunday, the Israeli army reported that it began sending notices in Farsi to Tehran residents who live near the sites they consider as objectives to leave those areas immediately.

In a publication in the FARSI account of the FDI, on the social network X, an urgent warning to the Iranians was issued:

“All people who are in the production factories of military weapons and their support institutions, or in their surroundings, must leave these areas immediately and not return to new notice.”

“His presence next to this infrastructure puts their lives at risk.”

“A very sad morning”

The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, wrote in his account in X that Sunday morning was “very sad and difficult.”

The “Iranian criminal attacks” killed and wounded “Jews and Arabs, Israeli citizens and new immigrants, including children and the elderly, women and men,” Herzog wrote.

Iran's chancellor, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, said the attacks would end once Israel stops his military campaign.

A building with a avocado that collapsed — Photo foot, One of the buildings hit by Israeli attacks in Tehran, in a photo on Friday.

In an encounter with foreign diplomats, the official indicated that Israel's attacks had crossed a new red line of international law by aiming against their country's nuclear facilities.

Iranian president, Masoud fishshkian, had threatened with a “more severe” response if Israel does not yield.

The United States government, meanwhile, has said that it has no implication in Israel's attacks on Iran.

However, Araghchi urged Washington to “assume his responsibility” and to condemn these attacks.

The celebration of a sixth round of conversations between the United States and Iran on a possible agreement in relation to its nuclear program was scheduled for this Sunday.

“Only three days ago, the possibility of moving towards an agreement between the United States and Iran on their nuclear ambitions was still in the air. Now, the explosions and mermaids that shake the night in Israel and Iran seem to have drowned it,” said Sebastian Usher, editor of the section of the Middle East of the BBC.