Israel’s Ben Gurion airport halts flights over Gaza rockets

Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport suspended air traffic on Tuesday following a massive barrage of rockets launched towards nearby Tel Aviv by Hamas Islamists in Gaza, the civil aviation authority said.

“During the massive rocket fire... flights were stopped to protect the country’s skies,” aviation authority spokesman Ofer Lefler told AFP.

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A confrontation between Israel and Hamas sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem escalated Tuesday. Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza, killing over 25 Palestinians, while militants barraged southern Israel with hundreds of rockets, killing two Israelis.

Since sundown Monday, 26 Palestinians — including nine children and a woman— were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes, health officials there said. The Israeli military said at least 16 of the dead were militants.

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