The Middle East conflict reached what the World Health Organisation termed a “perilous stage” on Sunday, after an Iranian ballistic missile struck the southern Israeli town of Dimona, located just kilometres from the country’s undeclared nuclear facility.

The Saturday evening strike devastated residential buildings in the desert town of 40 000, leaving dozens wounded and marking a significant failure of Israel’s air defence systems. The missile hit approximately five kilometres from the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Centre, widely believed to house Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

“We thought we were safe,” Galit Amir (50), a care provider whose nursing home was damaged in the attack told an AFP-reporter. “Dimona is the most safe place in Israel. We didn’t expect this.”

Another Iranian missile struck the nearby town of Arad hours later, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit both sites on Sunday and vow personal retaliation against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

“We’re going after the regime. We’re going after the IRGC, this criminal gang,” Netanyahu said whilst inspecting damage in Arad. “We’re going after them personally, their leaders, their installations, their economic assets.”

On Sunday, neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva sustained damages following an impact reportedly caused either by a missile or by interceptor fragments.

Israel’s military said Iran has fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the war began in February, with approximately 92 per cent intercepted. Iran stated the Dimona strike was in response to Israeli attacks on its Natanz nuclear facility.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urgently called on all parties to “exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents”.

Iran escalated its threats on Sunday, with its military warning it would completely shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if US President Donald Trump targeted the country’s power plants. The strait has already been largely choked off, with only approximately five percent of pre-war vessel traffic able to transit, according to analytics firm Kpler.

Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf separately threatened to “irreversibly destroy vital infrastructure across the entire region”, warning of long-term oil price increases.

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The escalation has spread regionally. Saudi Arabia detected three ballistic missiles near Riyadh, whilst the United Arab Emirates reported responding to Iranian attacks. At least six attacks targeted a US diplomatic centre at Baghdad’s international airport.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered strikes on bridges over Lebanon’s Litani river and the demolition of Lebanese houses near the border. Rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person in northern Israel.

Iran’s energy minister Abbas Aliabadi said US and Israeli strikes had caused extensive damage to the country’s water and energy infrastructure.

Britain confirmed one Iranian missile targeting the UK-US military base at Diego Garcia “fell short”, whilst another was intercepted.