A missile struck inside the perimeter of Israel's main airport on Sunday, May 4, wounding six people, halting flights and gouging a wide crater, in an attack claimed by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The Israeli military said "several attempts were made to intercept" the missile that was launched from Yemen, a rare Houthi attack that penetrated Israel's air defences. An official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the country's security cabinet would convene in the evening.
A police video showed officers standing on the edge of a deep hole in the ground with the control tower visible behind them. No damage was reported to airport infrastructure. The police reported a "missile impact" at Israel's main international gateway.
"You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen metres (yards) wide and several dozen metres deep," central Israel's police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video. The Israel Airports Authority said: "This is the first time a missile has fallen so close to the terminal and the runways."
It was not immediately clear whether the impact was caused by the Yemeni missile or by an interceptor. The attack was claimed by the Houthis, who say they act in support for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza. "The missile force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport" with a "hypersonic ballistic missile", the rebels said, referring to their forces.
Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: "Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger."
Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad later hailed the attack on the airport. Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.
An incoming Air India flight was diverted to Abu Dhabi, an airport official told AFP. It was one of the airlines to suspend Tel Aviv flights until May 6, along with Germany's Lufthansa Group, which includes Austrian, Eurowings and SWISS. Flights resumed after being halted briefly, with the aviation authority saying Ben Gurion was now "open and operational."
Israel's security cabinet would meet on Sunday, a government official said, after media also reported a planned expansion of the Gaza war with call-up orders issued for tens of thousands of reserve troops.
Several news outlets said the military had begun sending orders for reservists to replace conscripts and active-duty soldiers in Israel and the occupied West Bank so they can be redeployed to Gaza. A military spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the reports but Israel's public broadcaster said the security cabinet would meet to discuss the expanded offensive.