Israeli authorities suspended all flights at Ben Gurion Airport today after a missile launched from Yemen struck near the facility.
Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, reported that “several people sustained minor injuries due to a missile falling near Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport,” without providing further details.
The strike occurred following multiple air raid sirens in various regions of Israel and several unsuccessful attempts to intercept the projectile, according to the Israeli army.
According to Channel 13, the military has launched an internal probe into the failure of the air defense systems to intercept the missile.
This marked the third such missile launch in two days following earlier Houthi claims of targeting Ramat David Airbase and the Tel Aviv region.
In a statement, the Houthi Ansarallah movement said: “In support of the oppressed Palestinian people and their fighters, and in rejection of the crime of genocide being carried out by the Zionist enemy against our brothers in the Gaza Strip, the missile force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting ‘Ben Gurion’ Airport in the occupied Yaffa area using a hypersonic ballistic missile, which successfully hit its target by the grace of Allah.
“The outcomes of the operation were as follows: The failure of American and ‘Israeli’ interception systems to stop the missile. The flight of more than three million Zionists into shelters. Complete suspension of airport operations for more than an hour.
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“Accordingly, the Yemeni Armed Forces renew their warning to all international airlines to halt their flights to ‘Ben Gurion’ Airport, as it is no longer safe for air navigation.
“Earlier yesterday evening, the unmanned aerial unit also carried out a military operation targeting a vital site belonging to the ‘Israeli’ enemy in the occupied Asqalab area using a drone of the Yaffa type.
“Yemen — its people, leadership and army — will, with Allah’s help, continue to stand firm and steadfast in the face of American aggression, never abandoning its religious, moral and humanitarian duty toward the oppressed Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences, until the aggression on Gaza ceases and the siege is lifted.”
Israeli MP and former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz blamed Iran for being behind the missile attack launched from Yemen, without offering any evidence.
“This isn’t Yemen – it’s Iran,” said Gantz in a post on X, urging a “harsh response.”
“It is Iran that is firing ballistic missiles at the State of Israel, and it must be held accountable,” he said. “The Israeli government must wake up and not return to the days of ‘drip’ attacks.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold an urgent call with several ministers and security officials this afternoon to assess the Houthi missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport and discuss Israel’s response, reported Israel’s Ynet news site.
Dire humanitarian situation in Gaza
In other related news, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “beyond imagination” as Israel continued to block supplies into the enclave.
“As the complete blocking of supplies essential for survival enters its ninth week, there must be a concerted international effort to stop this humanitarian catastrophe from reaching a new unseen level,” it added in a statement.
The refugee agency renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
The humanitarian crisis deepened in Gaza after Israel unilaterally abandoned a January 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinian group Hamas last month.
On Friday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned that with every additional day, Israel’s siege on Gaza “will silently kill more children and women in addition to those killed by bombardments.”
On Thursday, the director of Gaza’s government media office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, told Anadolu that the enclave had entered “an advanced stage of famine” due to the continued closure of border crossings since March 2 and Israel’s renewed military onslaught.
Nearly 52,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Despite this, the Israeli army said on Saturday that it was sending call-up orders to tens of thousands of reservists to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“The tens of thousands of reservists being called up would begin to show up in the military in the coming week,” it said.
