Zein Khalil and Ahmed Asmar
06 May 2025•Update: 06 May 2025
JERUSALEM / ANKARA
Multiple international airlines on Monday extended flight suspensions to and from Israel after a missile launched from Yemen hit Ben Gurion Airport, severely disrupting air traffic and leaving thousands of Israelis stranded overseas, according to Israeli media reports.
The missile, claimed by the Yemeni Houthi group, struck near the airport in central Israel on Sunday, injuring eight people and prompting a wave of flight cancellations by foreign carriers.
According to the Israeli financial outlet Calcalist, the Lufthansa Group—including SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings—will extend the suspension of flights to Israel until May 11. Similarly, ITA Airways (Italy) suspended all Tel Aviv routes through the same date.
United Airlines extended cancellations until May 9, while Wizz Air (Hungary) will halt flights until May 8. Aegean Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, and Ryanair announced extensions through May 6.
Several carriers, including Air Canada, Air France, Air India, Aeroméxico, and Air Europa, also canceled scheduled flights on Monday.
The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that thousands of Israeli citizens remain stranded abroad due to the widespread disruptions in international flights.
On Monday, Israel carried out airstrikes in Yemen a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened retaliation over a missile fired by the Houthi group that landed near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The airstrikes marked Israel’s first direct military response after the Houthis fired a missile at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, wounding eight people.
Yemen has faced an intensified US military campaign since mid-March, 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 52,600 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months, most of them women and children.
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.
