An Iranian ballistic missile has injured a 10-year-old old boy and around 19 other people in the Israeli city of Dimona. 

Footage of the strike was posted on social media, showing the projectile hurtling towards a residential area before exploding in a huge fireball. 

Other angles of the strike show an interceptor trying and failing to down the missile, which continues plummeting towards the city.

Israel’s Magen David Adom said around 20 people had been injured by shrapnel from the blast, including a 10-year-old boy who is in moderate condition. 

‘In the Dimona area, MDA teams are treating at all scenes to approx 20 patients with shrapnel injuries, injuries sustained on the way to shelters, and anxiety symptoms: a male, 10, is in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries,’ it wrote on X. 

Israel’s Home Front Command has also dispatched search and rescue forces to impacted areas.

The city of Dimona is located close to Israel’s Negev Nuclear Research Center – a critical research facility for the country’s nuclear program – in the Negev desert.

It comes hours after two ballistic missiles were fired towards Diego Garcia, a base in the Indian Ocean jointly operated by the US and the UK, on Friday night.

Sources reported that one of the missiles failed in flight, while the other was intercepted by a US warship in what is believed to be the first ever strike on the military base.

The precise timing of the incident is as yet unknown, though the Government confirmed on Saturday that it took place before Starmer gave the go-ahead to the US – with Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch now accusing the Prime Minister of a ‘cover up’ on the details and questioning why the public were not told ‘sooner’.

Defence experts have suggested the incident is significant in that it has revealed Iranian missiles can cover far greater distances than they were previously thought to be capable of.

Diego Garcia lies around 3,800km (2,360 miles) from Iran – undermining the regime’s previous assertion that its ballistic missiles could only reach 2,000 km (1,240 miles).

The strike on Diego Garcia took place just seven days after Israeli forces struck Iran’s main space research center in Tehran, amid fears it was being used to ‘develop satellite attack capabilities in space.’

Experts have warned that if Iran has greater military prowess, the missile threat could now extend well beyond the Middle East and within distance of most capital cities in Western Europe.

This includes Paris, which is 4,198km (2,609 miles) from Tehran, while London lies on the ‘edge of vulnerability’ at around 4,435km (2,750 miles).

Despite the strike, Keir Starmer has vowed not to use  its bases in Cyprus for any offensive action following a phone call with the country’s president Nikos Christodoulide. 

‘The British Prime Minister reiterated … that the security of the Republic of Cyprus is fundamental to the United Kingdom and, to that end, a decision has been taken to enhance the means contributing to the preventive measures already in place,’ a Cypriot government spokesperson said.

‘Finally, the Prime Minister reiterated that the British Bases in Cyprus will not be used for any offensive military operations.’

An Iranian-type Shahed drone caused slight damage when it hit facilities at Britain’s Akrotiri airbase in southern Cyprus on March 2, with two others later intercepted. There have been no further known security incidents.

Britain retained sovereignty over two bases on the island when it granted its colony independence in 1960.