ISTANBUL

For the first time, Israel acknowledged its defense systems failed to intercept a Yemeni ballistic missile targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, wounding seven people and halting air traffic.

Israel relies on two of the world’s most advanced defense systems—its Arrow (Hetz) and the US-made THAAD—but both failed to stop the missile, which caused minor injuries to seven people and disrupted flights, according to an official Israeli statement.

The incident sparked widespread analysis of Israel’s vaunted defense capabilities, long considered the region’s most formidable.

Kuwaiti military analyst Faisal Al-Hajri told Anadolu, explaining the technical limitations of Israel’s radar-based defenses.

“Air defense radars use a transmission system to emit waves and a reception system to detect returning signals,” Al-Hajri said. “When waves hit an airborne target, they reflect back to the radar, displaying the target on a monitor for interception.”

He added that the system, which is designed for aircraft with larger radar cross-sections (RCS), has difficulty with ballistic missiles, whose smaller RCS frequently results in weak or no radar returns, leaving monitors blank.

Hajri observed that long-range ballistic missiles, such as the one used, carry smaller explosive payloads to reach distant targets, reducing physical damage.

"The strike on Ben Gurion caused limited destruction due to the missile's small warhead and imprecise navigation, making its impact more psychological than military," he said.

Israel’s radar-based defenses, primarily built to counter aircraft, struggle to detect high-speed missiles, Hajri explained.

The Israeli military admitted that the Arrow and THAAD systems failed to intercept the missile, which landed in an open area near Ben Gurion Airport, injuring seven and suspending air traffic for an hour.

Later, another military statement said: “Initial findings reveal no malfunction in the detection procedure, interception systems, or Homefront Command alert mechanisms.”

According to the assessment, “the likely cause was a technical issue with the interceptor launched toward the missile.”

The military earlier reported detecting the missile after sirens sounded across Israel, following failed interception attempts.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree, in a televised statement, claimed that the group targeted the airport with a hypersonic ballistic missile that “successfully hit its target” in solidarity with Palestinians and in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The Houthis had earlier claimed similar attacks, but Israel’s admission of the missile’s impact was a first.

Air traffic was halted, with planes circling before landing, and nine airlines, including Swiss, Austrian, Australian, and Indian carriers, canceled flights to Tel Aviv, per Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

Since mid-March, Yemen has faced an intensified US military campaign, including around 1,300 air and naval strikes, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties, according to the Houthis.

The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 52,500 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas but resumed them after Israel's renewed airstrikes on Gaza in March.

The Israeli army also continued its systematic home demolitions in Rafah in southern Gaza amid gunfire by helicopter gunships, witnesses said.

More than 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.