FAA Temporarily Halts U.S. Flights to Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near Israel's main airport Tuesday, wounding one Israeli and prompting all U.S. and some European and Canadian airlines to cancel flights to Tel Aviv - a reflection of high anxiety over air travel after the downing of a Malaysian jet over Ukraine.

It was the latest blow to Israel on a day when it announced that an Israeli soldier went missing following a deadly battle in the Palestinian territory, where the Israelis are fighting Hamas militants in the third conflict in just over five years. With the casualty toll mounting on both sides, the international community has stepped up diplomatic efforts and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon met with Egyptian and Israeli officials in a bid to revive a cease-fire proposal that was rejected by Hamas.

Israel's Transportation Ministry called on the companies to reverse their decision, insisting the Ben-Gurion Airport is safe and completely guarded and saying there is no reason to "hand terror a prize," by halting the flights.

Palestinian militants have fired more than 2,000 rockets toward Israel, and several heading toward the area of Ben-Gurion Airport have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system, but police spokeswoman Luba Samri said Tuesday's landing was the closet to the airport since fighting began on July 8.

The rocket heavily damaged a house and lightly injured one Israeli in Yehud, a Tel Aviv suburb near the airport, Samri said.

However, international airlines and passengers are growing more anxious about safety since last week, when a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. While Hamas rockets aren't guided missiles, they still can cause massive damage to an aircraft. For instance, unguided mortar fire in Tripoli from a militia batting to control its international airport destroyed a $113 million Airbus A330 over the weekend used by Libya's state-owned Afriqiyah Airways.

The Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines they are prohibited from flying to the Tel Aviv airport in Israel for 24 hours starting Tuesday afternoon "due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza. Later, the European Aviation Safety Agency issued an advisory to airlines saying it "strongly recommends" airlines avoid the airport.

Germany's Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada and Alitalia canceled flights to Tel Aviv over safety concerns amid the increasing violence. Dutch airline KLM also cancelled Flight 461 from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv because of the unclear situation at and around the airport. Greece's Aegean Airlines also canceled flights from Athens and Iraklio to Tel Aviv on Tuesday and Wednesday, citing "operational reasons."