Dimona residents speak out after Iranian missile strike near Israeli nuclear facility

Iran said the strike was carried out in response to a strike on its nuclear facility at Natanz, reportedly by American forces.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Residents of Dimona said a sense of security has been shaken following an Iranian ballistic missile strike on Saturday evening that hit residential areas, wounded dozens, and exposed vulnerabilities in Israel’s air defenses.

The strike in the southern city of about 40,000 in the Negev desert caused damage to multiple buildings and left civilians injured, including six people inside a nearby nursing home who sustained minor wounds. Hours later, a separate missile struck the nearby town of Arad.

The two attacks together left nearly 200 people wounded, including 11 in serious condition.

Residents told AFP they had believed the area would be well protected due to its proximity to sensitive infrastructure, but that perception changed after the strike caused direct damage in a residential neighborhood.

The missiles that struck Dimona and Arad carried conventional warheads containing hundreds of kilograms of explosives.

Israeli air defenses engaged both projectiles but failed to intercept them.

The Israeli Air Force said Sunday that the failures were not due to a systemic issue, describing the circumstances surrounding each interception attempt as unrelated and stating that the fact that both incidents occurred in the same area within two hours was coincidental.

Iran said the strike was carried out in response to a strike on its nuclear facility at Natanz, reportedly by American forces.

Dimona lies about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, a facility officially designated for research but widely assessed by analysts to be linked to Israel’s undeclared nuclear capabilities.

Israel maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying possession of nuclear weapons.

The strike on Dimona, which directly hit a residential neighborhood, marked a significant escalation in the conflict and highlighted the impact of missile fire on civilian areas in southern Israel.