The army told AFP there was a "direct missile hit on a building" in the town in the Negev desert.

Dimona hosts a facility just outside the main town, widely believed to possess the Middle East's sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons.

Magen David Adom first responders said their teams treated 33 people injured at a number of sites, including a 10-year-old boy with shrapnel wounds in serious condition who was "fully conscious".

It said a woman of around 30 was in a moderate condition, while 31 others were lightly injured by shrapnel or hurt on their way to shelters. Fourteen people were also treated for shock.

The organisation, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, released a video of a residential building ablaze in the town.

"There was extensive damage and chaos at the scene," paramedic Karmel Cohen said in a statement.

The Israeli military said that "interception attempts were carried out" after the missiles were detected.

Images shared by Israeli media showed an object hurtling out of the sky at high speed before crashing into the town.

Israeli police released pictures of officers in a building with a large hole blown in the wall.

Israel has maintained a policy of ambiguity about its nuclear programme, and the Dimona plant officially focuses on research.

The casualties in Dimona came after Iranian authorities said the nuclear facility at Natanz in the Islamic republic was struck in the US-Israeli bombing campaign.

Iranian state television said the attack on Dimona was a "response" to the strike on the nuclear site.