‘Close call’
It was one of the airlines to suspend Tel Aviv flights until Tuesday along with Italy’s ITA Airways and Germany’s Lufthansa Group, which includes Austrian, Eurowings and SWISS. Air France announced the cancellation of Sunday flights.
A passenger said the attack, which came shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of Israel, caused “panic”.
“It is crazy to say but since October 7 we are used to this,” the 50-year-old, who did not want to be named, said referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
An airline official said: “Today was a close call”.
“I have worked at the airport for several years but even I was afraid today,” they told AFP.
Flights resumed after being halted briefly, with the aviation authority saying Ben Gurion was now “open and operational”.
Israel’s security cabinet were to meet on Sunday, a government official said, before army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir confirmed media reports of a planned expansion of the Gaza war.
“This week we are issuing tens of thousands of orders to our reservists to intensify and expand our operation in Gaza,” Zamir said in a statement, adding the army would destroy all Hamas infrastructure, “both on the surface and underground”.
Israel’s public broadcaster had said the security cabinet would meet to discuss the expanded offensive.
The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely stopped the war.
