Some 50 flights through Ben Gurion Airport were canceled Sunday as a result of Israel’s preemptive strike on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and the terror group’s subsequent rocket and drone attacks, according to a statement by airport authorities at midday.
The cancellations only made up about 15% of all flights scheduled for the day, but travelers were left scrambling as some airlines canceled all their flights for the day or even longer due to security concerns.
Among those to cancel their flights for at least Sunday were Air France, Etihad, Aegean, Ethiopian Airlines, and Azerbaijan Airlines, according to Channel 12 news.
British Airways canceled flights between Heathrow and Tel Aviv until Wednesday, while Wizz Air said Sunday that it was “temporarily suspending” flights.
The airlines were among the few still flying to Israel, after other major airlines canceled flights to the country, with some pausing until September or even— as with Delta— to April 2025.
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Many carriers never resumed flying to Israel after halting flights in the wake of the Hamas terror group’s October 7 attack last year, when thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war in Gaza.
A man looks at the board displaying multiple delayed and canceled flights at Ben Gurion International airport on August 25, 2024 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Virgin Atlantic, which was set to restart its flights to Israel on September 5, extended its pause in travel to the country through September 25.
As a consequence of the chaos Sunday, hundreds of Israelis found themselves stranded abroad, trying to find a way home.
“The prices are high and there’s almost no way to get back to Israel without the Israeli companies robbing you in broad daylight,” Shaked, an Israeli tourist stranded in Prague with her husband and children, told N12.
Many airlines have canceled flights in recent weeks as tensions in the region have escalated, following the assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut— for which Israel took credit— and the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, for which Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility.
Airlines also canceled flights to Beirut on Sunday, including Air France, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Etihad Airways, and Lufthansa.
Lebanon’s civil aviation authority emphasized Sunday that “the airport is functioning normally” despite some disruptions.
There is “no truth” to rumors that all flights have been canceled, said a statement from the authority carried by the official National News Agency.
A number of airlines had already announced flight suspensions or cancellations to Beirut in recent weeks, with some later resuming services.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the Israel-Lebanon on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against the Hamas terror group there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 19 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 430 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 73 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
AFP contributed to this report.
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