A missile, launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels, landed proximally to Israel's primary airfield.
Ben Gurion Airport under Attack: A Houthi Missile Strike Causes Chaos
Fueling tensions in the Middle East, Houthi rebels from Yemen fired a missile towards Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on a fateful Sunday, sending panic rippling through the bustling terminal building and causing a plume of smoke to billow into the air.
The Iran-backed Houthis, responsible for the attack, have escalated their missile assaults on Israel in recent months, asserting they are standing arm-in-arm with Palestinians in Gaza.
A senior Israeli police commander, Yair Hetzroni, led reporters to the crater caused by the missile impact near a Terminal 3 parking lot at the airport. "Check out the scene behind us here," Hetzroni stated, gesturing to the hole that measured tens of metres in diameter and depth. Despite the damage, he emphasized that there was minimal destruction.
In a statement following the strike, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz responded fiercely, "Anyone who harms us will face sevenfold retaliation." Prior to the missile's impact, sirens blared across central Israel, including the major city of Tel Aviv, and airport employees and travelers rushed towards safe areas.
A Reuters reporter on the scene witnessed the activation of sirens, with passengers scrambling towards safety rooms. Onlookers captured the aftermath of the strike on their smartphones, recording a plume of black smoke visible nearby, behind parked aircraft and airport structures. While Reuters has not verified the videos, they provide a glimpse of the chaos that unfolded.
Eight individuals sustained injuries, with a man experiencing mild to moderate limb injuries, two women enduring minor head injuries, and several other individuals receiving medical attention.
Airport operations resumed to normal shortly after the incident, but flight operations were disrupted due to the attack. Reportedly, Air India, TUS Airways, and Lufthansa Group flights were cancelled, while other routes to Newark and JFK were delayed by about 90 minutes. A fortunate Reuters reporter boarded a flight to Dubai that remained on schedule.
Claiming responsibility for the strike, the Houthis' military spokesperson Yahya Saree issued a chilling warning, advising airlines that the Israeli airport was "no longer safe for air travel."
This Houthi missile strike followed a series of large-scale US strikes against the rebels in March, designed to weaken their capabilities and deter them from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis, who control vast areas of Yemen, began targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping back in late 2023, shortly after the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The war, instigated by Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people, has had catastrophic consequences for Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's offensive in Gaza has claimed over 50,000 lives and devastated much of the coastal enclave. In retaliation, the Houthis have pledged to expand their range of targets in Israel in response to a renewed Israeli offensive launched in mid-March, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire.
These attacks on Israel have become an integral component of the wider regional conflict, impacting both civilian populations and international relations.
The Houthis, emboldened by their backing from Iran, have expanded their war-and-confflictions targets to include civilian areas like Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, with their recent missile attack serving as a clear demonstration. In retaliation for the Hamas-led conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have escalated their missile assaults on Israel, threatening civil air travel and exacerbating political tensions in the Middle East.
