Iran strikes towns near Israel’s nuclear site, wounding over 100

Sunday March 22, 2026

Israeli soldiers work at the scene of damage after Iranian missile barrages struck Dimona [Ilan Assayag/Reuters]

Iranian missiles slammed into Israel’s south, hitting Dimona – home to the country’s main nuclear facility – and nearby Arad, leaving more than 100 people wounded and pushing the US-Israel war on Iran into one of its most perilous moments yet.

Israeli rescuers reported that the attacks, carried out on Saturday, wounded residents across the two cities in a sharp escalation as the conflict entered its fourth week. Iran’s state television described the barrage as a “response” to what it said was an earlier strike on Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment complex, underscoring an intensifying cycle of tit-for-tat attacks.

At least 88 people were wounded in Arad, including 10 in serious condition, according to Israel’s emergency services, with extensive damage reported in the city centre.

In Dimona, emergency crews said 39 people were wounded. Among them was a 10-year-old boy in critical condition, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds, after several residential buildings were destroyed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reacting to the strikes, called it a “difficult” evening for Israel and renewed his pledge to keep hitting Iran. US-Israeli attacks launched on February 28 have killed more than 1,500 people in Iran, including more than 200 children, according to Iranian state media.

An Israeli military spokesman said air defence systems were activated but failed to intercept some of the incoming missiles, even though they were not “special or unfamiliar”.

“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”, firefighters said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had received no indication that the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center at Dimona had been damaged, and said no abnormal radiation levels were detected in the area.

The UN nuclear watchdog said it was tracking developments closely, with Director General Rafael Grossi urging that “maximum military restraint should be observed, in particular in the vicinity of nuclear facilities”.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said three separate impact sites were identified across Dimona. She reported that one three-storey building had completely collapsed and that several fires broke out.

Witness footage verified by Al Jazeera, which is banned from operating inside Israel, showed a missile striking the city followed by a large explosion.

School in the surrounding Ramat Negev Regional Council was cancelled for the following day.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli military said it struck a research and development facility at Tehran’s Malek Ashtar University, which it said was used to develop components for nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

The military said it “will not allow the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons”.

Iran said the US and Israel targeted its Natanz enrichment complex on Saturday morning, though it reported no radioactive leakage.

An unnamed Israeli official, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, denied Israel was behind the Natanz strike, but the Israeli army has not issued a full statement on the matter.

Dimona has been central to Israel’s nuclear programme since its research centre – built in secret with French assistance – opened in 1958.

Eye-for-an-eye approach

Israel is believed to have developed nuclear weapons by the late 1960s. It has long adhered to a policy of deliberate ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying they exist, a stance that formed part of a quiet understanding with Washington, which feared an open declaration could set off a regional arms race.

Abas Aslani, a senior fellow at the Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, told Al Jazeera that Iran is pursuing an eye-for-an-eye strategy aimed at restoring deterrence.

“Tehran wants to reduce the gap between words and actions,” he said, arguing that Iran’s objective is to make its threats credible enough to support a new long-term security arrangement — not simply to force a ceasefire, but to establish deterrence.