Israel adopted a decision restricting the presence of US military aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport. Transport Minister Miri Regev announced that, in order to protect civil aviation activities, only the 20 refueling aircraft stipulated in the agreement would be permitted to land at the airport. She added that any additional US planes would be redirected to Israeli air force bases.
Regev said, “We are in the middle of summer and hundreds of thousands of our citizens have made holiday plans. We promised to ensure that no flights are cancelled because of the US refueling planes.” The minister stated that she had instructed the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) accordingly.
According to the Israel Broadcasting Corporation, IAA air traffic controllers received a temporary order barring US refueling planes from landing at Ben Gurion. It noted that there are currently 34 US refueling aircraft in Israel, four of which arrived recently, and that Washington had pledged to keep only 20 aircraft in the country. The US military has not yet issued an official statement on the matter.
Before the decision, Israeli press reported that the US military had frozen its plan to evacuate its military refueling planes from Ben Gurion, surprising officials. Israeli media had warned that the delay in evacuation could trigger a crisis in civilian air traffic. The IAA had announced that a delay could result in the cancellation of about 50,000 flight tickets in July.
The US has long used Ben Gurion Airport as a refueling base. The recent activity is seen as part of US military preparations in the region. The US has been conducting operations against Iran in retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran, for its part, has responded with bombardments that it claims target US military facilities. Some Arab countries have reported that the Iranian attacks have caused civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. This escalation has broken the ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar and Pakistan in June 2026. US President Donald Trump declared on July 8 that the ceasefire had officially ended.
