Dozens of flights delayed amid fighting in Israel’s north, thousands stranded abroad again

Amid the height of the summer holiday season, the flight schedule of Israel’s main international travel hub, Ben-Gurion Airport, has now been in disarray for weeks, as most major airlines have either canceled or delayed their flights in anticipation of large-scale rocket attacks from Hezbollah and Iran.

After Sunday morning’s short escalation, flights were again delayed, leaving thousands of Israelis without a way to exit the country and additional thousands stranded across the globe.

After receiving intelligence of an impending attack, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out a broad wave of attacks on Hezbollah rocket launch sites across southern Lebanon early in the morning, causing a general suspension of flights at Ben-Gurion Airport, located outside of Tel Aviv.

However, the airport returned to full operations hours later and by Monday morning, the airport was again “working as planned including departures and landings,” according to its website.

Still, the cancellation of around 50 flights on Sunday, representing 15% of all flights, again threw the nation's primary international travel hub into chaos, with thousands of Israelis scrambling to find alternatives to their canceled flights, as many intended to travel abroad a final time before the start of the new school year on Sept. 1.

Israel's Channel 12 reported that Air France, Etihad, Aegean, Ethiopian Airlines, and Azerbaijan Airlines had canceled flights on Sunday. British Airways suspended flights between London and Tel Aviv for the next three days, while Wizz Air also said it was “temporarily suspending” flights.

These were some of the remaining airlines that hadn’t canceled their flights for a longer period due to the anticipated Iranian and Hezbollah attacks. While some carriers never resumed connections to Israel after Oct.7, many have since canceled flights in response to renewed threats.

After Israel eliminated Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh died in a mysterious explosion in Tehran last month, most airlines suspended their connections to Israel.

Most notably, El Al is the only airline currently flying between the U.S. and Israel, after United Airlines canceled flights to Israel until further notice, Delta canceled flights to and from Israel until Oct. 31, and American Airlines canceled its connection to Tel Aviv until March 2025.

The German Lufthansa Group, which includes Swiss, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings, canceled its connections until Oct. 2.

After cancellations left thousands of Israelis stranded abroad, Israeli-owned airline companies El Al and Arkia offered additional connections at set prices to enable Israelis to return home in response.

Amid the cancellations on Sunday, several anti-Israel activists and other commentators used footage of the chaos at the airport to claim that Israelis were “fleeing” the country for fear of the attacks.

Sulaiman Ahmed, a journalist who has been sharing anti-Israel content for the past several months, showed a video of the long lines at the airport and commented, “They are escaping as fast as you can.”

“Uh, this is what Ben Gurion looks like every day in the summer,” Kassy Akiva, a journalist at the Daily Wire, pointed out in response.

Internet personality Mario Nawfal corrected his initial statement of a “mass exodus from Israel” following criticism by many Israelis, who pointed out that long lines at Ben-Gurion are a regular occurrence.