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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli officials are urging foreign airlines to reverse their decision to cancel flights into Israel's main airport.
All U.S. airlines and some in Europe and Canada suspended those flights after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near the airport today, wounding one Israeli.
The European Aviation Safety Agency says it "strongly recommends" that airlines refrain from operating flights to and from Tel Aviv. Earlier today, the Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines they were prohibited from flying to Ben Gurion airport for 24 hours .
The country's Transportation Ministry insists that the airport is safe and completely guarded. And it says there's no reason to reward Palestinian militants by stopping the flights.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes continue to pound a wide range of locations in Gaza, even as diplomatic efforts intensify to end the fighting that has killed more than 600 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.
The U.N. office of humanitarian affairs estimates that at least 75 of the Palestinian deaths were civilians. Israel insists Hamas has put those civilians in danger by carrying out attacks from residential areas.
Israel also announced today that one of its soldiers is missing after a weekend battle in Gaza.
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219-a-13-(Nir Golan (neer goh-LAHN'), 17-year-old from Brookline, Massachusetts, traveling with family to visit relatives in Tel Aviv)-"actually making it"-Nir Golan says his family had to arrange to fly to Tel Aviv through Germany after United canceled their flight. (22 Jul 2014)
<<CUT *219 (07/22/14)££ 00:13 "actually making it"
196-a-07-(Sara Willansky, New Jersey resident who was giving prayer cards to passengers boarding an El Al flight to Israel, in AP interview)-"gotta be strong"-Sara Willansky, who was giving prayer cards to passengers boarding an El Al flight to Israel, says she doesn't approve of the ban on flights to Israel. (22 Jul 2014)
<<CUT *196 (07/22/14)££ 00:07 "gotta be strong"
APPHOTO CAISH303: FILE - In this Monday, July 21, 2014, file photo, a Palestinian overcome by emotion watches rescuers carry a body from the rubble of a house which was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike, in Gaza City. Disagreement over whether to lift the Gaza blockade is a key stumbling block to ending more than two weeks of fighting between the Islamic militant Hamas and Israel. Some in Gaza say they would rather endure more fighting than return to life under the blockade. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File) (21 Jul 2014)
<<APPHOTO CAISH303 (07/21/14)££
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