Iran has struck Dimona, an Israeli city housing a nuclear research center, injuring at least 47 people on Saturday. A 10-year-old child is in critical condition.
At least 47 people were injured on Saturday, March 21, in the evening by an Iranian missile strike on the city of Dimona in southern Israel, which houses a nuclear research center, according to a new report from Israeli emergency services.
The Magen David Adom (MDA) teams, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, announced that they had taken care of “a boy about ten years old in critical condition (…) suffering from shrapnel wounds” and “a woman about 30 years old (…) suffering from glass shrapnel wounds”.
They also evacuated to the hospital “31 slightly injured patients by shrapnel while going to a shelter, as well as 14 people showing symptoms of anxiety.”
An “immeuble touché” and vehicles on fire
The police released images of an apartment on a floor hit by an impact, with the kitchen wall blown open.
The locations of the affected sites were not yet known, but online images and live broadcasts show impacts on urban areas, including a building with a largely destroyed facade, pierced and riddled with shrapnel, as well as vehicles on fire.
The army said in a statement that “before the impact, interception attempts were made” without success and that the causes of the impact “will be subject to examination.”
A “response” to the attack on the Natanz site in Iran
The city of Dimona notably houses the Negev Shimon Peres Nuclear Research Center, a nuclear facility for research purposes which, according to foreign press reports, has been involved in the production of nuclear weapons over the past decades.
Little information leaks about the Dimona nuclear site. Israel maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity”, neither confirming nor denying the possession of nuclear weapons.
Iran claimed responsibility for the missile strike, stating that it was a “response” to the “enemy” attack on the Natanz complex (center), reported earlier by Tehran. Shortly after, Israel reported a missile strike towards the Eilat region, located about 200 kilometers further south of Dimona.
