May 4 (UPI) — Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s main travel hub, was hit Sunday with a Houthi missile that bypassed Israeli and American defense systems.
The Houthis, a Yemeni political faction formally known as Ansar Allah, said in a statement that its armed wing had carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion Airport in the “occupied Jaffa region” with a hypersonic ballistic missile.
Palestinians and their supporters consider the land Ben Gurion Airport sits on to be Palestinian land from the historic district of Jaffa, which was a major Palestinian city before the creation of Israel.
The airport has existed since British rule and was formerly known as Lydda Airport and then Lod Airport, the Hebrew transliteration of it, which is what the Houthis called it in their statement.
The Houthis said that the strike on the airport was a success for those who support the Palestinian cause because it highlighted the “failure of the American and Israeli interceptor systems to intercept it” and stopped airport traffic for around an hour.
The airport has since resumed flights with a statement on its website stating, “Dear passengers, please be advised that Ben Gurion airport is working as planned, including departures and landings.”
Nasr El-Din Amer, a senior Houthi official, issued a statement warning airlines not to deal with Ben Gurion Airport and risk the safety of their airplanes.
“It is a target for the missiles of the Yemeni armed forces until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is lifted,” Amer said.
“We welcome the countries and airlines that have so far announced the cancellation of their flights to Lod Airport or what is called ‘Ben Gurion’ in order to preserve the safety of airplanes and passengers, and we call on the rest of the airlines and countries to the same rational and safe behavior.”
The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement that the incident was being investigated after acknowledging that “several interception attempts” were made to stop the missile. Israeli Police said in a statement that the entrances to the airport were blocked until the scene could be cleared.
The IDF told CNN that it had fired its long-range Arrow interceptor at the missile. Last year, former President Joe Biden directed the U.S. to send a THAAD defense system to Israel.
At least five people were injured because of the missile strike, Israeli media reported. Yair Hetzroni, the senior police commander overseeing the airport, showed journalists a crater caused by the missile, which caused no significant damage to airport facilities or runways.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement: “Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger.”