Airlines cancel flights to Israel as Middle East girds itself for Iran’s response to Hamas assassination

On the 300th day of the war, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said it killed Mohammed Deif, leader of the armed Al Qassam Brigades and a key figure in the October 7th attacks, during a targeted strike last month. The news came on the heels of Wednesday’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh during his visit with Iran’s ruling Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei.

“A travel waiver has been issued for all customers who booked travel to/from Tel Aviv before Aug. 14,” said Delta in a statement on Wednesday. The world’s most valuable airline is still reeling from last month’s unrelated CrowdStrike outage.

One of the passengers affected was Louis Fishman, an associate professor at CUNY Brooklyn and an expert in Turkish-Israeli affairs, who was due to fly to the country on Saturday and now was rebooked for August 7th.

“I just got my United flight cancelled,” he posted to social media. 

Hi Louis. You can get travel help from our Agent on Demand team here: https://t.co/1v0Ztfdd80. Or, if you prefer, you can also rebook your flight or view other flight options here: https://t.co/wpawAefNMy. ^AL

— United Airlines (@united) July 31, 2024

Passengers flying with European airlines have been affected, too. Lufthansa ordered Flight LH682 bound for Tel Aviv to return to Munich as a “precautionary measure” while sister carrier Air Austria redirected its machine as well. 

“After more than six hours in the air, we’ve arrived in Vienna with no clear direction on what to do next,” one passenger told Israel Hayom. 

The Israeli Airport Authority, which operates both Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and Ramon Airport in the Red Sea tourist resort of Eilat, could not be reached by Fortune for comment.

End of Hamas now ‘closer than ever,’ Israeli minister claims

Service to Israel has been repeatedly affected by the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, with many airlines grounding routes from October through March. Flights were interrupted again in April when Iran launched a fleet of drones and missile attacks that were quickly intercepted by Israel, the U.S., and their allies in the region.

Those drones were deployed after a strike on one of its military commanders on its Damascus embassy compound, viewed as a violation of its sovereignty. The killing of Haniyeh, who left his Qatari residence to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president as a guest, is viewed as an even bigger humiliation for Khamenei. Iran’s supreme leader is looking to cement his legacy, with many experts believing he hopes to pass his office on to his son Mojtaba following the death of rival Ebrahim Raisi.

We can now confirm: Mohammed Deif was eliminated.

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 1, 2024

Asked about the Ayatollah’s threat to avenge his killing, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged the U.S. would come to Israel’s aid in the event of a retaliatory attack. 

DAWN, a U.S. nonprofit founded by murdered Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi to advocate democracy in the Middle East, warned the provocative manner of Haniyeh’s extrajudicial killing meant America could soon find itself dragged into a war not of its own choosing. 

“We’ve had Secretary Blinken and President Biden telling us day in and day out for the past several weeks if not months that a ceasefire is imminent. A deal is just going to happen any moment now,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN executive director, on Wednesday. “The symbolism of actually murdering the person you’re negotiating a ceasefire with cannot more clearly communicate a desire not have a ceasefire.”

Meanwhile Israel’s hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, ruled out any talk of a cessation of hostilities following news of Deif’s liquidation. “We must not stop a moment before victory,” he wrote, calling the collapse of Hamas now “closer than ever.”