Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: Iranian president responds to Israel's retaliation

The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces downplayed the seriousness of the damage caused by Israel's attack on its military facilities, and signaled it favors a cease-fire agreement ending the wars in Gaza and Lebanon over a direct response to Israel in a statement Saturday.

"In this illegitimate and illegal act, due to the readiness of the country's air defense, a significant number of missiles were tracked and intercepted, and enemy jets were been prevented from entering the country's airspace," the Iranian Armed Forces said in the statement.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its legal and legitimate right to respond at the appropriate time, emphasizes the establishment of a lasting cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon to prevent the killing of the helpless and oppressed people," the Iranian Armed Forces said.

At least four people were killed in Israel's attack on Iran, according to Iranian state media.

The Israeli regime attacked military sites in the three provinces -- Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam -- but the attacks were successfully thwarted, according to Iran’s Air Defense Force.

The Israel Defense Forces arrested 44 male staff members from the Kamal Adwan Hospital, leaving behind the hospital director, one male doctor and female staff to care for 200 patients, according to the World Health Organization.

"The situation in northern Gaza is catastrophic. Intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities and a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life saving care," the WHO said in a statement Saturday.

"The Health Ministry in Gaza informed us that the siege at Kamal Adwan Hospital has ended, but it came at a heavy cost," the WHO said. "Reports of the hospital facilities and medical supplies being damaged or destroyed during the siege are deplorable."

The IDF's raid of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in North Gaza, left behind a path of destruction, according to videos.

Civilians taking shelter at the hospital were told to go to the courtyard. Women and children were separated from the men, witnesses told local journalists. One journalist who was in the hospital told other local journalists he was detained and taken with others to an area in Beit Lahia where he says he was beaten before being released and told to go south.

MedGlobal, a U.S. charity which is affiliated with the hospital, released a statement condemning the detention of the hospital's nursing director, Mahmoud Lubbad, in the raid. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the hospital, said goodbye to his teenage son on Saturday, who was killed overnight in Jabalia.

Cleared videos show debris in the courtyard, walls of neighboring buildings torn down and mangled ambulances. Bodies are in the courtyard have been wrapped in shrouds.