Israel has imposed a limit on the number of US military fuel aircraft arriving at Ben Gurion Airport. Under the instruction of Transport Minister Miri Regev, no new landings will be permitted beyond the 20 planes already at the airport.
Regev told the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper that she had instructed that no refueling aircraft outside the agreement be allowed to land at Ben Gurion in order to protect civil aviation. The minister said, "We are in the middle of summer, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have bought holiday tickets. We promised to facilitate these flights and ensure that no ticket is canceled due to US fuel planes."
The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) was directed not to allow landings beyond the 20 planes stipulated in the agreement. It was stated that other planes would be redirected to air force bases. The Israel Broadcasting Corporation also announced that the IAA had issued a temporary instruction to air traffic controllers not to allow US fuel planes to land at Ben Gurion.
Before the decision was announced, Israeli media had reported that the US military had frozen the evacuation of military fuel planes stationed at Ben Gurion, surprising officials. According to Israeli media, the delay in the evacuation could trigger a crisis in civilian air traffic. The IAA warned that if the delay persisted, around 50,000 tickets could be canceled in July.
According to the Israel Broadcasting Corporation, there are currently 34 refueling aircraft in Israel, four of which arrived during the current escalation. Washington has pledged to keep only 20 planes in Israel. The US military has not yet made an official statement on the matter.
US military planes had been using Ben Gurion as a refueling base. In recent weeks, this was seen as part of US military preparations in the region. The US has been carrying out strikes on Iran for days in retaliation for Iran's targeting of commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is responding with bombardments it says target US military facilities.
Some Arab countries announced that the Iranian attacks had caused civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. The current escalation has broken the ceasefire agreement signed in June 2026 under the mediation of Qatar and Pakistan. US President Donald Trump had announced on July 8 that he was formally ending the ceasefire.
