Video | This is the exact moment a missile lands near Israel's main airport: retaliation warned
A missile landed near Ben Gurion International Airport in the Tel Aviv region after being fired from Yemen, injuring at least six people and disrupting air traffic, as well as threats of strong retaliation from Israel.
"We have acted against them in the past and we will do so in the future, but I cannot give details (...) It will not be a single blow, but there will be many blows," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
Whoever hits us will be hit seven times harder.
The attack was claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels, allies of the Palestinian Hamas movement, who have attacked Israel with missiles and drones since the start of the Gaza war.
The blast left at least six people injured, four of whom suffered injuries directly related to the blast and two others injured on their way to shelters, the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) reported.
The attack was captured on video by people heading to the airport and by dozens of vehicles passing through the busy area, which is Israel's main airport.
"Ben Gurion Airport was attacked with a hypersonic ballistic missile that successfully hit its target," said Yahya Sarea, a military spokesman for the rebels, in a statement, adding that the projectile "successfully" hit the target.
It also renewed its warning to international airlines that the Israeli airport is "unsafe" for air traffic.
You can see the area just behind us: a crater several tens of meters wide and also several tens of meters deep has formed there.
According to the Houthi military spokesman, the results of the operation were "the failure of the American and Israeli interception systems," as well as the "flight of more than three million Zionists to shelters and the complete disruption of airport operations for more than an hour."
Air raid sirens sounded in several regions of Israel on Sunday morning, the army announced in a statement.
⚡️🇾🇪🇮🇱BREAKING:A ballistic missile fired from Yemen made a direct impact at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.Channel 12 Israel: Flights arriving and departing from Ben Gurion Airport suspended. pic.twitter.com/64R3ME2YFQ
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) May 4, 2025
The air defense system attempted to intercept the missile fired from Yemen, he said.
AFP journalists heard explosions in the Jerusalem and airport areas in central Israel.
"You can see the area right behind us: a crater has formed there, several dozen meters wide and also several dozen meters deep," said Yair Hezroni, head of the Israel Central Region Police, in a video with the airport control tower in the background.
The missile strike disrupted aircraft takeoffs and landings, but the airport is now operating normally, the airport authority said. However, airlines such as British Airways announced the suspension of all flights to and from Tel Aviv until Wednesday.
Police are trying to determine whether it is a Yemeni missile or an Israeli air defense missile.
Israel warns it will respond with greater force Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to respond to that shot with a blow "seven times stronger."
Israel has already carried out several attacks against Houthi targets in Yemen.
"Whoever hits us will be hit seven times harder ," Katz said in a brief statement.
We have acted against them in the past and we will do so in the future, but I cannot give details (...) It will not be a single blow, but there will be many blows.
The Israeli security cabinet will meet this Sunday. Photo: EFE
The Iran-backed Houthis have previously claimed responsibility for firing at the airport.
On Friday, two missiles were fired at Israel, several hours apart, but the Israeli military claimed to have intercepted them.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed in a video that the group had attacked a military facility in central Israel with "a Palestine 2 hypersonic missile."
The Israeli military is investigating a missile launched from Yemen that fell next to the car park of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/7WSFUzNs0M
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 4, 2025
Houthi rebels control large parts of war-torn Yemen , including the capital, Sanaa, more than 1,800 km from Israel's southern border.
Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the Islamist movement Hamas's attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, the Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks against Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Houthis also attack vessels considered linked to Israel in the Red Sea, a vital area for global maritime traffic.
Israel has bombed Gaza and intensified its ground operations since March 18. Photo: EFE
After Israel broke a fragile two-month truce in the Gaza Strip on March 18, the Houthis resumed attacks on Israel.
The United States, under President Joe Biden, had begun hitting Houthi positions in January 2024 to force them to stop firing.
The campaign intensified after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
In late April, the Pentagon said it had attacked more than 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of Houthi "fighters" and several leaders.
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