TEL AVIV – A missile launched by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport on Sunday after its impact near an access road caused panic among passengers.
The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify military operations in Gaza. The army was calling up tens of thousands of reserves, Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said.
Israel’s army said it was the first time a missile struck the airport grounds since the war in Gaza began. The military said initial findings indicated the likely cause was a technical issue with the interceptor.
Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom said four people were lightly wounded.
Multiple international airlines canceled or postponed flights. The war with Hamas in Gaza and then Hezbollah in Lebanon had led a wave of airlines to suspend flights to Israel. Many had resumed in recent months.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians, raising their profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel. The U.S. military under President Donald Trump has launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis since March 15.
Early Monday, the rebels issued a warning to airlines that they would carry out “repeated targeting” of Ben-Gurion, Israel’s main gateway to the world.
International carriers should “cancel all their flights to the airports of the criminal Israeli enemy, in order to safeguard the safety of their aircraft and passengers,” the Houthis said.
Israel vows to respond
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a video statement that the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Houthi rebels have fired at Israel since the war with Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel’s missile defense systems, causing damage.
Israel has struck back against the rebels in Yemen.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was supporting Israeli operations against the Houthis. “It’s not bang, bang and we’re done, but there will be bangs,” he said. In a later statement, he added Israel would respond to the Houthis “AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Vote on expanding Gaza war
Netanyahu said the security Cabinet was meeting Sunday evening to vote on plans to expand the fighting in Gaza.
“We will operate in additional areas and we will destroy all of the infrastructure above and below ground,” Zamir said.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told Israeli Army Radio he wanted to see a “powerful” expansion of the war, and demanded that Israel bomb “the food and electricity supplies” in Gaza.
An 8-week ceasefire with the Hamas militant group allowed more aid into Gaza and freed some Israeli hostages, but it collapsed in March when Israel resumed strikes. The military has since captured swaths of the coastal enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials.
Israel in March halted the entry of goods into Gaza as part of efforts to pressure Hamas to negotiate on Israel’s terms for a new ceasefire. That has plunged the territory of 2.3 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis of the war. Hunger has been widespread, and shortages have set off looting.
In a confrontation over efforts to support Gaza, Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, said his country had offered to send a marine surveyor to look into the damage caused to a ship said to be carrying aid and organized by pro-Palestinian activists. Abela said the captain refused.
The activists said Friday their vessel was struck by drones, blaming Israel. The ship remained in international waters off Malta. The Israeli military has not commented.
New Israeli airstrikes kill children
Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians, including parents and their children, ages 2 and 4, in southern and central Gaza, Palestinian medics said. The military had no comment.
The military said two soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, bringing the number killed since fighting resumed in March to six.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
The fighting has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population, often multiple times.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Kevin Schembri in Birkirkara, Malta, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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