Eilat airport briefly closed over ‘security concerns’

The IDF on Thursday closed the Eilat airport to arrivals and departures for two hours. While no official reasons were provided for the brief closure of the passenger airport to Israel’s Red Sea tourism town, a defense official confirmed that it was closed over “security concerns.”

In an interview with Channel 2, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed that the order from the army came due to a terror threat. “We’re responding to security alerts,” he said.

Eight affected domestic flights were rerouted to the military airport at Ovda, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Eilat.

The airport serving Israel’s Red Sea tourist resort is predominantly used by Israeli airlines, flying passengers to and from Ben-Gurion International Airport and Tel Aviv’s Sde Dov.

The decision comes against a backdrop of escalating terror activity in the Sinai peninsula.

On Wednesday, an Egyptian military spokesman said that in the past month his army had killed 60 jihadi militants and captured 103 more in an effort to eradicate terror activity in the territory.

Eilat has been targeted by rockets several times over the past few years. The airport in the city was closed briefly in the immediate aftermath of one such recent strike.

In July, the army deployed an Iron Dome air defense battery in the city.

Amid escalating fears of missile attacks, Israel’s security services were considering closing down the airport for an unspecified, extended period, Channel 2 reported in April.

In the interim, the report said, a decision was made to equip all Israeli planes using the airport with the revolutionary Rakia defense system, designed to protect passenger planes from attack by terrorists equipped with shoulder-fired missiles. The system was fully operational, the report said.

In September of 2012, an IDF soldier was killed in an attack along the border. A year earlier, eight Israelis died in a sophisticated cross-border infiltration.