A missile struck near Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday morning, injuring six people and briefly halting all flights in and out of Israel’s main airport, in an unprecedented attack claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The missile impact created a large crater near the Terminal 3 parking area, within sight of the control tower, according to footage released by Israeli police. The crater was described as several dozen metres wide and deep, though no direct damage was reported to runways or terminal buildings.
The Israeli military confirmed the projectile was launched from Yemen and acknowledged “several attempts were made to intercept” it. It remains unclear whether the blast was caused by a direct missile strike or the failed interception.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, reported treating six individuals with injuries ranging from light to moderate. An AFP journalist inside the airport at the time of the blast described a powerful reverberation around 9:35 a.m. local time, prompting security staff to rush hundreds of passengers into shelters and bunkers.
A spokesperson for the airport confirmed operations resumed shortly after the temporary shutdown. “Departures and arrivals have resumed. The airport is open and operational,” the Israel Airports Authority said in a statement.
Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility, stating it had fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at Ben Gurion in support of Palestinians in Gaza. “Yemen… escalates its attacks on the heart of the illegitimate Zionist entity,” said Abu Obeida, spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, praising the strike.
Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed a retaliatory response: “Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger.”
The Houthi missile campaign, largely symbolic and mostly intercepted, resumed after a recent pause during a two-month ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. This marks the third such strike on Israel in two days.
Meanwhile, Gaza saw continued Israeli military operations. Local civil defence officials reported 16 fatalities from airstrikes, including at least three children. Overnight raids in Khan Younis killed six, and another ten people, mostly women, were killed in a separate strike on a tent in Al-Mawasi.
Israel’s military said over 100 targets had been struck in Gaza over the past two days but did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment on the latest casualties.
As tensions mount, the missile strike on Ben Gurion underscores the widening regional fallout of the Gaza war and the increasing reach of the Houthi threat.
