The ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in Yemen that hit the Ben-Gurion Airport compound on Sunday morning, injuring six people, halted incoming and outgoing flights for about an hour.

In the wake of the incident, a number of airlines canceled their flights to Israel on Sunday for the next 48 hours, including Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Swiss Air, and Wizz Air.

American carriers United and Delta—both of which had only recently resumed flights to Israel—have also canceled their flights, along with France’s Transavia and its Air France, Air Canada, Japan’s Nippon Airways, Spain’s Air Europa, and British Airways.

“We have canceled our twice-daily service between Newark and Tel Aviv while we closely monitor the situation,” United says in a statement. “We will make decisions on resuming service with a focus on the safety of our customers and crews.”

The flight route from Newark to Ben Gurion Airport is temporarily canceled at least through May 8.

Delta Air Lines cancelled its flight on Sunday from New York to Tel Aviv, as well as its returning Monday flight.

ITA Airways (Italy’s national airline) canceled four flights to Israel scheduled on Sunday and two scheduled for Monday.

Passengers who had already boarded an Air France plane for a flight to Israel were ordered to disembark.

Air Europa canceled a flight that was already awaiting takeoff on the runway in Madrid.

An Air India flight that was en route to Israel returned to India after it had already reached Jordanian airspace.

The flight cancellations led to a 6.9 percent jump in El Al’s share price on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Ynet reported.

The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility for the attack on Ben Gurion Airport in a televised statement and issued a warning to international airlines that Ben-Gurion is “no longer safe for air travel.”

Senior Houthi member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti told the Qatari Al Araby channel that attacks will continue to increase as long as Israel continues its war on Hamas in Gaza. “We’ve proven our ability to deal blows to American, British, and Israeli prestige,” he said. “There are no red lines in our conflict with the Zionist entity, the United States, and Britain. Our strike on the Ben-Gurion airport is proof of our ability to hit fortified targets inside Israel.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)