Inside Dimona: Missile Crater, 500 Displaced After Strike - NDTV World Ground Report

NDTV’s Ankit Tyagi reports from ground zero in Dimona, where an Iranian missile strike has left a massive crater and widespread destruction in its wake. The town, located in Israel’s Negev desert, witnessed a direct impact that injured over 60 people and forced more than 500 residents to flee their homes. Entire apartment blocks lie shattered, homes reduced to debris, and everyday belongings strewn across what were once living spaces. Emergency crews are now demolishing unsafe structures and clearing rubble as part of a massive cleanup operation. What makes this strike especially significant is Dimona’s proximity, just 13 km, to the highly sensitive Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, widely believed by experts to be at the core of Israel’s nuclear programme. While Israel has never officially confirmed details about the site, its strategic importance casts a long shadow over this attack. As residents take shelter in hotels and temporary camps, the visuals from Dimona underscore the human cost of escalating conflict, homes destroyed, lives uprooted, and a community struggling to rebuild in the shadow of a high-stakes geopolitical flashpoint.