A series of international airlines halted flights to Tel Aviv and the US airline regulator banned all flights to Israel after rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed within a mile of the country’s only international airport on Tuesday.
The cancellations come amid heightened sensitivity over the potential for conflicts to affect civilian aircraft after a surface-to-air missile apparently fired by pro-Russian militants brought down a Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine last week.
The most sweeping action was taken by the Federal Aviation Administration, the US air regulator, which barred all US carriers from operating to Tel Aviv for 24 hours starting from 12.15pm on Tuesday US eastern time (5.15pm BST).