Defense Minister Israel Katz said Jerusalem was “not surprised” by what he described as Iranian war crimes on Saturday, after a cluster warhead struck a kindergarten in central Israel and two ballistic missile strikes on residential buildings left up to 175 people wounded.
In the morning hours of the Sabbath, a cluster warhead scattered submunitions across 11 impact sites in Rishon Letzion, one of them hitting a kindergarten that was empty at the time, but that would have been a mass-casualty scene any other day of the week. Later, in the south, additional Iranian fire struck residential areas, creating a wave of casualties that overwhelmed local emergency services and helped push Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva into emergency footing.
The IDF acknowledged that efforts to intercept the missiles that hit Dimona and Arad failed. But the fact that the Iranian missiles found their targets highlighted Katz’s earlier point: they were deliberately aiming at civilians.
⚠️ Tonight, the Iranian regime unleashed a devastating hail of missiles on southern Israel, purposefully striking civilians in Arad and Dimona.
Over 100 people, including many children and elderly, inured.
This is a blatant war crime. Pure terrorism. Yet, world is silent! pic.twitter.com/EBLLrxuJ9t
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) March 22, 2026
During his visit to the kindergarten in Rishon Letzion, Katz said the Iranian regime’s behavior was as expected.
“This is a war crime,” stressed the defense minister, “but it is not surprising because the Iranian regime is a terrorist regime.”
Since the start of the war, Iran has fired dozens of cluster munitions at Israel. The destructive power of each submunition is not great enough to cause any real damage to infrastructure, be it civilian or military. Rather, the goal is to inflict as many casualties as possible. And they are indiscriminate by design.
🎥WATCH: Chief of Staff of the Home Front Command, B.G. Elad Edri, at the site of the kindergarten where an Iranian regime cluster missile hit in Rishon Lezion, central Israel.
“Once again, we see how our enemy aims their targets at civilian populations. They try to kill and… pic.twitter.com/GRnnEHK8oh
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 21, 2026
In Dimona, another cluster munition hit the Negev city around 7 p.m., sending 34 people to the hospital. Soroka Medical Center said a 12-year-old boy was seriously wounded, another victim was in moderate condition, 25 were lightly injured, and seven more suffered shock.
Shortly after, a missile slammed into a residential neighborhood in the nearby Negev town of Arad. United Hatzalah said its medics treated 95 patients there, including 10 in serious condition, after what it described as a mass casualty incident. Magen David Adom later said that, as of 1:20 a.m. Sunday, its teams had treated 88 people, including 10 seriously wounded, evacuating casualties in dozens of ambulances. One of the seriously wounded was reported to be a girl around five years old.
Aerial footage released by United Hatzalah showed a broad impact zone with blown-out residential structures.
United Hatzalah provided emergency medical treatment to over 70 patients following a direct missile impact in Arad, Southern Israel. Responders managed the mass casualty incident earlier this evening, providing life-saving care at the scene. pic.twitter.com/BY4cnKYgMv
— United Hatzalah (@UnitedHatzalah) March 21, 2026
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks on Arad and Dimona “a blatant war crime” and “pure terrorism.” That description is hard to dispute.
Fire from Lebanon
Hezbollah, operating from Lebanon, added its own contribution to the day’s targeting of Israeli civilians. Nineteen people were wounded by rocket fire in Kfar Vradim and Ma’alot-Tarshiha, according to Israeli emergency authorities. All were reported lightly wounded or suffering anxiety. Earlier, a 10-rocket barrage scored a direct hit on a building in Metula.
Israel will fight on
As devastating as the day’s attacks were, Katz said they would only galvanize Israel to push on toward victory.
“The fighting will continue as long as necessary; there are very significant achievements,” Katz stated. He also praised what he called the “amazing and unprecedented cooperation” between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, saying coordination on both the diplomatic and operational levels must continue.
Netanyahu, in a statement after speaking with Arad Mayor Yair Ma’ayan, called it “a very difficult evening in the battle for our future.”
These attacks, Israeli leaders emphasized, combined with Iran’s lashing out at its Arab neighbors and its long-range attack on the British airbase at Diego Garcia, demonstrate what they’ve been saying for decades: that the Islamic Republic is a dangerous fanatical regime developing the means to threaten the entire world, and it must be stopped.
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