Israel’s Air Force has concluded that a technical failure in an interceptor missile was to blame for the unsuccessful attempt to neutralize a ballistic threat that impacted near Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday morning, according to a report by Kan News.
The missile, believed to have been fired from Yemen, bypassed multiple layers of air defense before landing near Terminal 3 of Israel’s main airport.
The incident marked a rare lapse in the country’s otherwise layered missile defense network, which includes the Israeli-made Arrow (Hetz) system and the U.S.-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) platform.
According to the findings of the Israeli Air Force (IAF), the initial interceptor experienced a technical malfunction that prevented it from functioning as intended. A second interceptor, launched via the U.S. THAAD system deployed in the region, failed to strike the target.
The IAF stressed that “there was no error in the function of the battery itself during the incident,” suggesting that the failure was isolated to the interceptor missile rather than the broader air defense infrastructure.
While no major injuries were reported from the strike, the impact near a critical civilian aviation hub raised new concerns about the reliability of missile defense systems.
Israel has faced a series of long-range attacks originating from Yemen since the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict. These incidents have pushed both Israeli and U.S. forces to increasingly rely on layered defense systems to counter threats from Iran-backed Houthi forces.
The THAAD system, deployed to the region by the United States, is designed to intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their terminal phase. Its presence is part of broader cooperation between the U.S. and Israel to protect critical infrastructure and population centers.
An official response from the Israeli Ministry of Defense has not yet been released.