Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday held a phone call, issuing a strong condemnation of Israel's actions, which they stated "violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law."

Russia has warned of catastrophe should the Israel-Iran conflict, now in its seventh day, escalate further, and has urged the US not to join Israel's bombardment.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov reiterated the shared belief of Moscow and Beijing that "there is no military solution to the current situation and issues related to Iran's nuclear programme."

Both leaders emphasised that a resolution "must be achieved exclusively through political and diplomatic means."

Russia, which has repeatedly offered to mediate the conflict, renewed its proposition during the call with Xi Jinping, who expressed support for the idea, believing it could "serve to de-escalate the current acute situation."

Putin has been in contact with the US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in recent days, though Russia's mediation offer has yet to be accepted.

The latest escalation saw Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, overtly threaten Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

This came after an Iranian missile barrage damaged the main hospital in southern Israel, Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, wounding over 70 people and struck other residential buildings near Tel Aviv, injuring at least 240 people in total, with four seriously injured.

Katz blamed Khamenei, stating the military "has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist."

He further warned that Khamenei would be held accountable for what he termed "war crimes of the most serious kind" and indicated that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would do everything to eliminate the Iranian leader.

Katz also stated that he and the Prime Minister had 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 Israel and undermine the Ayatollah's regime."

Earlier, US officials had revealed that President Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei, with Trump later confirming there were no such plans "at least not for now."

Israel meanwhile carried out strikes on Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, part of its nuclear program.

Iran's state news agency IRNA claimed that the main target of the missile attack that hit the hospital in southern Israel was an Israeli military and intelligence base, the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base (IDF C4I) and the Army Intelligence Camp in Gav-Yam Technology Park, located in the vicinity of Soroka Hospital.

IRNA stated the hospital was "exposed only to the blast wave," and the "direct and precise target" was the military facility.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei sharply rebuked International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi, accusing him of betraying the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and turning the agency into a "partner in an aggressive and unjust war."

Baghaei further alleged that the agency was complicit in efforts to deprive NPT member states of their core rights under Article 4 of the treaty, which acknowledges access to peaceful nuclear technology.

He warned of devastating consequences from "misleading narratives from international institutions like the IAEA" and insisted Grossi must be held accountable.

With inputs from agencies