180 injured by Iranian missiles after attempted strike on Israel’s nuclear site hits local towns
Around 180 people have been injured after Iranian strikes hit two towns near a nuclear facility in the south of the country, according to Israel’s health ministry.
Listen to this article
Ballistic missiles reportedly hit the towns on Saturday evening.
The Israeli ministry reported 116 injuries in Arad, and a further 64 in Dimona.
The nuclear research facility, located around 13km (eight miles) outside of Dimona, was not damaged in the strikes, according to reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iranian State TV reported earlier that the strikes were retaliation for a previous attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.
Local residents in Arad said the blasts had damaged several buildings and left a deep crater.
A paramedic in the area described how children received head and chest injuries caused by objects inside the damaged building.
A similar strike in the town of Dimona left a 10-year-old boy seriously injured, according to medics.
Local resident Ahmadiel Ben Yehuda described his “horror” when seeing the impact of the strikes.
“I just can't believe the power of what a missile can do to concrete, to see the devastation is hard to comprehend."
The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center – understood as the intended site of the strikes - is located in the Negev desert.
Known colloquially as the “Dimona reactor”, it has been an open secret for around six decades that the site holds Israel’s undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons - although officially claims to focus solely on research.
Israel, currently the only nuclear power in the Middle East, is not a signatory of the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Speaking on the recent strikes, Israeli firefighters said: “In both Dimona and Arad, interceptors were launched that failed to hit the threats, resulting in two direct hits by ballistic missiles with warheads weighing hundreds of kilograms.”
Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog visited the towns on Sunday.
The strikes come after seven were injured by Iranian strikes on Tel Aviv over the weekend.
US President Donald Trump, who launched the war on Iran alongside Israel last month, issued a warning to Tehran, saying the United States will “obliterate” energy plants in Iran if the government doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz.
He gave the country a 48-hour deadline to comply.
Tehran have threatened that any attacks on its nuclear facilities would be met with strikes on US and Israeli energy and infrastructure facilities.
Since February 28, around 400 missiles have been fired towards Israel by Tehran according to the Israeli Air Force.
They claim 92% of the strikes have been intercepted.
Investigations are currently underway to understand how the missiles breached Israel’s “Iron Dome” air defence system.