Hamas warns international airline to fly from and to Tel Aviv as of today

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

A Hamas spokesperson warned airline passengers, tourists, and visitors to fly from and to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport beginning at 6:00 am Thursday.

A Hamas spokesperson warned airline passengers, tourists, and visitors to fly from and to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport beginning at 6:00 am Thursday.

The spokesman urged international airlines to suspend flights to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport.

Updates posted on the airport website however confirm all activities will continue normally, until further notice. All international flights that were scheduled to depart from Terminal 1 – will be transferred to Terminal 3.There will be no change in Domestic flights.

Hamas threatened on Wednesday to launch rockets at Israel’s main international airport in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike targeting the leader of the Islamist movement’s military wing.

Mohammed al-Deif, the leader of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, was the objective of an attack on a home in Gaza City that killed his wife, youngest daughter and another civilian, Israeli officials said.

Al-Deif was a “legitimate target” and deserved to die, Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Saar said.

The Hamas military leader, who has survived at least five Israeli attempts to kill him, became the commander of the al-Qassam Brigades in 2002, when his predecessor, Salah Shehade, was killed.

Al-Deif’s spouse and child were laid to rest Wednesday afternoon amid anger over renewed Israeli airstrikes blamed for at least 21 deaths in Gaza.

The airport will remain under Hamas rocket fire until “Commander al-Deif decides” otherwise, Abu Obeida said.

Last month, rocket strikes in the vicinity of Ben-Gurion Airport prompted the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to bar American commercial airlines and cargo carriers from flying to and from Tel Aviv, though the ban was lifted after two days.

Palestinians and Israelis on Tuesday accused each other of breaking a temporary truce hours before it expired, as rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel and Israeli forces resumed air raids on the Palestinian territory.

The truce was an extension of a five-day cease-fire to allow negotiators taking part in Egyptian-brokered talks to reach an agreement for a more permanent end of hostilities.

The head of the Palestinian negotiating team in Cairo, Azzam al-Ahmed, said before leaving Egypt early Wednesday that the talks with Israel had failed.

“Israel has decided to make the talks in Cairo fail,” al-Ahmed said.

The time for talking is over, the al-Qassam Brigades spokesman said, insisting that objectives such as ending the Israeli blockade of Gaza can be achieved only through struggle.

“We have given the political leaders sufficient time to reach an accord, but the enemy has squandered a golden opportunity,” Abu Obeida said.

More than 2,000 Palestinians – 75 percent of them civilians – have been killed since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8 to stop rocket attacks from Gaza.

Sixty-four Israeli military personnel have died in combat with Hamas and other Palestinian militias in Gaza, while the more than 3,000 rudimentary rockets fired into Israel have claimed the lives of three civilians, including a Bedouin and a migrant worker from Thailand.

Due to increased activity of the Israeli Air Force, The airspace for civilian flights is reduced. Airport activities will continue normally,
with minor changes in flight schedule.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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