A special situational assessment is scheduled to take place Monday morning at Ben Gurion Airport, with the participation of Transportation Minister Miri Regev.
The primary focus of the meeting will be how to handle and accommodate an official request from the US administration to deploy additional military refueling tankers to Israel. This preparation comes amid heightened readiness for a regional security escalation. Professional officials have expressed grave concerns that stationing military aircraft inside a civilian airport will cause severe disruptions to the scheduled flight timetable - right at the peak of the busy summer travel season - and could even lead to the cancellation of numerous flights.
The Ministry of Transportation issued an explicit warning, noting that if the United States follows through on its intention to send dozens of additional tankers to Israel, the ministry will be unable to block or refuse the American request to land them on Ben Gurion's runways. This is due to the fact that available space at various Air Force bases, where current refueling aircraft are stationed, is expected to be completely exhausted.
According to reports, the aircraft in question include both reinforcement planes arriving directly from the United States and additional aircraft being relocated from neighboring countries in the region that have already come under direct Iranian bombardment. As a result, the Americans now view Ben Gurion Airport as the safest sanctuary for these aircraft.