Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Hamas has been firing rockets toward Israel’s leading airport, sparking widespread cancellations by foreign airlines.

Officials said Hamas was firing rockets within two kilometers of Ben-Gurion International Airport. Several rockets landed near the airport on July 22 and two people were injured. One of the rockets also damaged a house in the town of Yehud.

Within hours, European and U.S. airlines cancelled all flights to Israel. Israel operates a much smaller international airport in the southern city of Eilat, which too has come under Palestinian rocket fire from neighboring Egypt.

“The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile from Ben Gurion International Airport on the morning of July 22, 2014,” the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.

In one case, a U.S. passenger jet located within one hour of Israel abandoned flight plans and flew instead to Paris. Officials said none of these planes were equipped with missile protection systems.

The Israeli Transportation Ministry has protested the suspension of Western airlines operations. The ministry said this marked a “prize to terror.”

“Transport Minister Yisrael Katz this evening called American companies to explain to them that the takeoff and landing at Ben Gurion airport presented no security problem for the aircraft and the passengers,” the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority said. “There is no reason for American companies to cancel their flights.”

On July 21, the State Department warned Americans against traveling to Israel. The department also intensified restrictions on staffers of the U.S. embassy and consulate.

“Travelers should avoid areas of Israel in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip due to the real risks presented by small arms fire, anti-tank weapons, rockets, and mortars, as attacks from Gaza can come with little or no warning,” the State Department said.

  Ben Gurion Inernational Airport, Gaza Strip, Major airlines cancel flights to Israel as Hamas rockets target Ben-Gurion Airport, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration