On Saturday, Iran aimed at least one ballistic missile at Israel's nuclear research base in the Negev Desert.
The facility outside the city of Dimona was not hit in the attack, but a rocket struck a building in Dimona, causing widespread damage, according to AFP. Around 40 people - the exact number varies in different reports - were injured, but none seriously, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
Later, another rocket struck a residential building in the town of Aram, just over 25 kilometers northeast of Dimona.
Images from the area show widespread devastation and a state of emergency has been declared, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli media report that around 60 people have been injured, six of them seriously. No deaths have yet been reported.
IAEA urges calm
Israel has never directly confirmed that it has nuclear weapons, but the outside world assumes that it does, and the center of nuclear research is located outside Dimona. That's where engineer Mordechai Vanunu worked before he became a whistleblower and in 1986 revealed secret information that Israel had been developing nuclear weapons for over 20 years.
After the attack on Dimona, Rafael Grossi, head of the UN Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called on both parties to refrain from attacks on nuclear facilities to avoid radioactive leaks.
The military says it will investigate how it failed to stop a rocket attack on Dimona, which is heavily protected; for example, photography is not allowed in several areas around the city.
Threats and confirmation from Iran
That Dimona was an Iranian target was confirmed on Saturday evening on state Iranian television, which said the attack was a response to US and Israeli strikes on the nuclear facility in Natanz earlier in the day.
There were also threatening statements from Iran. Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X that “If the Israeli regime fails to retaliate against rockets in the heavily defended area around Dimona, it is a sign that the war is entering a new phase: Israel's skies are defenseless.”
He continued with a threat: "As a consequence, it looks like the time has come to implement the next prepared plan."
