The site of a Houthi rocket attack on Ben Gurion Airport, 4 May 2025. Photo: Avshalom Sassoni/Maariv
In the evening of 4 May, Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion, was hit by a ballistic missile from Yemeni Houthis, supported by Iran. According to The Times of Israel, the missile hit a wooded area near an access road within the airport’s perimeter. Despite the limited damage, the attack injured six people.
The victims included two men (50 and 64 years old) and four women aged 22 to 54 years old. Two other people suffered acute stress reactions. The airport temporarily suspended flight services, but has now resumed operations.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that it had made several attempts to intercept the missile, but all of them were unsuccessful. The circumstances and technical failures that led to the failure of the missile defence are currently under investigation.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz made a strong statement after the attack:
“Whoever harms us, we will strike back seven times.”
This is the first direct hit on the country’s main civilian air hub by Houthi forces in the context of a regional escalation that is increasingly going beyond the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
