Houthi missile from Yemen halts flights in Israel hours before vote on intensifying Gaza war

BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Israel — A missile launched by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport Sunday after its impact on the airport grounds left a plume of smoke and 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, said Israel’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

Israel’s army said it was the first time a missile struck the airport grounds since the war in the Gaza Strip began. The military said initial findings indicated the likely cause was a technical issue with the interceptor, which usually blocks incoming projectiles.

The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians.

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 have resumed in recent months.

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.

The rebels have been firing at Israel since its war with the militant group Hamas 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, and the United States, Israel’s top ally, launched an ongoing campaign of strikes against them in March.

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 video posted on social media.

Netanyahu in a later statement said Israel would respond to the Houthi attack, 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 eight-week ceasefire with Hamas brought a lull in fighting, 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 also 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.

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 that was 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, and the ship remained in international waters off Malta. The Israeli military has not commented.

New Israeli airstrikes

Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians, including parents and their two children, ages 2 and 4, early Sunday 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 hostage. 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, most 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. Hunger has been widespread and the shortage of food has set off looting.

Zwigenberg and Goldenberg write for the Associated Press and reported from Ben Gurion International Airport and Tel Aviv, respectively. AP writers Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem and Kevin Schembri in Birkirkara, Malta, contributed to this report.