Video footage shows a plane approaching Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport amid a barrage of rockets.
The Arkia Airlines flight landed from Eilat as the Iron Dome fended off a missile attack.
No casualties were reported in the regions targeted by the missile attack.
An Arkia Airlines flight leaving from Eilat successfully landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Friday amid a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reports.
A video posted on X by N12 News was captioned “last night during the shooting from Gaza towards the central settlements — a plane was recorded landing in Israel against the background of the interceptions of the Iron Dome.”
As the plane came into land, passengers witnessed the Iron Dome missile defense system in action.
There were no reported casualties in the missile attack that extended beyond the immediate vicinity of Ben Gurion Airport, with Tel Aviv, Rehovot, and Bat Yam also being targeted.
Unlike fighter jets, passenger airplanes lack the agility to evade missiles swiftly, as explained by retired Air Force commander Eitan Ben Eliyahu in a Channel 12 news interview.
Instead, pilots can increase engine power and ascend to a higher altitude, allowing for a landing on a different runway or even at an alternate airport if fuel permits. While there is an inherent risk, Ben Eliyahu emphasized that it remains relatively low.
Another social media post by N12 read: “Passengers recorded the interceptions from inside the plane during last night’s barrage” in Hebrew.
Israel claims the Iron Dome is 90% effective
The Israeli-designed Iron Dome was created to defend the country against the thousands of relatively low-tech rockets that Hamas has build. The automated system, which tracks and intercepts rocket and artillery fire, has been a crucial part of Israel’s first line of defense.
It uses radar to track rockets and can differentiate between those likely to hit built-up areas and those not. Interceptor missiles are only fired at rockets expected to strike populated areas.
Israel claims the Iron Dome has been around 90% effective in intercepting rockets over the past 12 years.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has prompted dozens of major airlines to cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv since the October 7 attacks by Hamas — when it fired 3,500 rockets at Israel — and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Despite the security challenges, airport authorities have not halted commercial internal air links with Eilat, Israel’s second international airport, a popular tourist destination on the Red Sea.
Israel’s retaliation campaign against Gaza has killed at least 17,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to health authorities in the territory.
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