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Israel ‘working around the clock’ for return of Tel Aviv flights: Minister
Israel’s minister of transportation says the government is “working around the clock with airlines and authorities” for the return of flights by international air carriers.
“We will not allow price gouging,” Miri Regev was quoted as saying by Israel’s Channel 12.
“I have instructed preparations for the possibility that foreign airlines will not resume flights to Israel after 72 hours, to renew the aviation hubs from Larnaca and Athens for citizens whose flights to the country were cancelled – and from there to reinforce flights to and from Israel.”
Many international airlines have cancelled their flights to Tel Aviv after a ballistic missile from Yemen hit a road at Ben Gurion International Airport.
Houthis vow to continue targeting Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport
The Yemen-based group’s military spokesperson Yayha Saree has called on international airlines to cancel flights into Israeli airports.
The Houthis said in a statement that they will impose “a comprehensive aerial blockade” on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports in response to Israel expanding its “aggressive” war on Gaza.
The group urged airlines to “cancel all flights to the airports of the criminal enemy in order to preserve the safety of their aircraft and customers”.
The statement from the Yemeni group comes after it struck near Israel’s main airport earlier, leading several international airlines to suspend flights.
Houthi attack gives Israel pretext for ‘hawkish action against Iran’
The missile strike on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport by Yemen’s Houthis came as a shock to Israelis, says Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London.
“I think there was a kind of a sense of security that ending the war with Hezbollah, or at least having a ceasefire with Hezbollah and some control over what’s going on in Gaza, there was a belief that at least people living within Israel would be safe,” said Krieg, speaking from London.
“And now what we’ve seen is that several layers of air defence failed.”
While Arab Gulf countries and the US want to de-escalate tensions with Iran, “the only entity that wants to escalate further is Israel”, said Krieg.
“So what happened today kind of gives [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu somewhat of a pretext of pushing for more hawkish action against Iran, if not directly in Iran, than at least against Iranian targets in the wider region”, he told Al Jazeera.
US conducts air strikes on Yemen: Houthi-affiliated media
A local source has told the Yemen news agency Saba that United States fighter jets targeted the al-Sawad area south of the capital, Sanaa, with three air attacks.
The strikes come after a missile fired by Houthi rebels towards Israel on Sunday landed near the country’s main international airport, causing panic among travellers and drawing threats of retaliation against the group and Iran.
