Camilla Jessen
A ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
Chaos erupted in Israel after a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck near Ben Gurion Airport — injuring eight and forcing an emergency shutdown of the country’s busiest travel hub.
The missile left a crater “several dozen meters wide,” according to local reports, and injured eight civilians, who were rushed to hospitals with mild to moderate injuries, Israel’s National Health Service said.
Ansar Allah politburo member Mohammed al-Bahiti told Al Arabi the group was responsible for the rocket attack.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the airport was the intended target — and admitted that the strike slipped through even the country’s most advanced air defense systems, including the Israeli-made Arrow 3 and the U.S.-built THAAD.
“This is the 27th missile fired from Yemen in just six weeks — and the first to hit,” an IDF source told reporters. “We stopped the last 26. Not this one.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed swift retaliation, warning, “We are acting against them together with the United States… There will be more strikes… This is part of the war.”
The Israeli security cabinet will meet May 4 to weigh the response — and discuss expanding operations in Gaza, Syria, and beyond.
Meanwhile, al-Bahiti doubled down, declaring the missile strike proof that the Houthis can hit fortified targets deep inside Israel.
“The escalation will continue until Israel stops its operation in Gaza,” he said. “We have no red lines.”
In turn, Ansar Allah representative Yahya Saria warned international airlines about the unsafety of flights to Tel Aviv.
The fallout was swift. A wave of major carriers — including United Airlines, Lufthansa, Air France, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Wizz Air, Air Europa, and Air India — announced they were suspending all flights to Tel Aviv until further notice.
This isn’t the Houthis’ first attempt to strike Ben Gurion. On April 14, the rebels launched a Zulfiqar missile at the airport, but it was intercepted before impact.