CONFLICT ENTERS FOURTH DAY: Israel and Iran have begun a new round of attacks, as the conflict between the two heavily armed rivals enters its fourth day.

Petah Tikva, in central Israel, suffered some of the worst damage after Iran fired a huge wave of ballistic missiles overnight.

By Alexander Cornwell, Parisa Hafezi and Jeff Mason TEL AVIV/DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Iranian missiles struck major Israeli cities on Monday while Israel's prime minister said his country was on its way to eliminating "threats" from nuclear and missile facilities in Iran and civilian casualties mounted on both sides.

The Israel Defense Forces said the air force had launched strikes against missile sites in central Iran, as the Middle East conflict entered a fourth day.

The Israeli military warned on X that residents of Tehran’s District 3--a northern neighborhood that includes a hospital, a sports complex, a concert hall, a cinema and several hotels--should evacuate ahead of planned military activity in the area.

Dozens of others were injured overnight across Israel, the authorities said. Israel was striking military sites in Iran and the four-day-old conflict showed no sign of slowing.

The Israeli military claims its campaign has eliminated high-value targets, including nine senior scientists, and severely damaged Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Iranian authorities confirmed damage to four critical buildings at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility,

The Iranian regime faces pressure as Israel strikes military targets, with Iranian Americans advocating for the overthrow of what one Iranian American describes as a "paper tiger regime."

Israel's military spokesman said that the country’s air force has destroyed 120, or about one-third, of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers since the beginning of its confrontation with Iran.

Israel has no intention of deliberately harming the residents of Tehran, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, walking back earlier comments he had made on Monday. "I wish to clarify the obvious: there is no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran as the murderous dictator does to the residents of Israel,