After hours of severe disruption and widespread delays, pressure at Ben Gurion Airport began to ease. Officials confirmed that workers returned to their posts and that efforts would be made "to increase staffing levels and address operational needs." Operations gradually resumed.
Journalist Amit Segal reported that Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar David claimed he was surprised by the chaos. According to the report, Bar David said: "I spoke with Pinchas Idan only afterward, I sent him a message: 'Brother, what's happening? Is this true?' Our intervention restored order." Idan chairs the workers' committee at the Israel Airports Authority.
Meanwhile, N12 reported that airlines informed passengers that due to the work stoppage, most flights would depart without checked luggage in order to bridge the gaps created by the unexpected halt in Ben Gurion operations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the chaos in an unusually sharp tweet: "Ben Gurion will continue to be open and operate as usual. Anyone who stands in the way will be sent home."
Yesh Atid chairman Gadi Eisenkot used the disruption to attack the government. "The chaos at Ben Gurion on one of the busiest days of the year is not an isolated incident—it reflects the failed management culture of Netanyahu's government: chaos and disorder, lack of management and lack of responsibility. The Israeli government's lack of interest in citizens' lives and above all, lack of leadership," he said.
He added: "A responsible transportation minister would be on her way to Ben Gurion right now and convening an emergency discussion to provide immediate solutions for the tens of thousands stranded at the airport. But naturally, the failed transportation minister is not even in the country. Israeli citizens deserve leadership that takes responsibility, confronts challenges, and knows how to manage systems from the ground up."
Earlier, Transportation Minister Miri Regev attacked the workers: "I instructed the Airports Authority management to petition the labor court immediately against the workers' committee to force them to stop this thuggish and illegal strike," her office stated. "Those who decided to take tens of thousands of Israeli citizens hostage will pay a heavy price," she added.
The unprecedented chaos began early afternoon at Ben Gurion Airport, during one of the year's busiest days, when passenger processing nearly ground to a halt and threats of terminal closure loomed.
Over one hundred thousand passengers and more than six hundred scheduled flights were affected by severe delays after check-in counters received instructions to halt reception and processing services. The shutdown of counters and freeze on baggage acceptance created massive congestion in passenger halls, lengthening lines at security checkpoints and delays of hours in baggage distribution in the arrivals hall. The airport's operational systems reached full capacity, and planes that landed remained on the tarmac unable to transfer luggage to the national sorting system.
The situation on the ground worsened when Ben Gurion operations management was forced to officially declare a "crisis event" due to accumulating operational difficulties. The airport's sorting channel reached maximum capacity and could not accept additional luggage, leading to immediate instructions to halt all check-in procedures for upcoming flights.
Ground crews and counter staff were described as helpless before frustrated and angry passengers, while the absence of available parking positions for aircraft created a chain of delays affecting incoming flights as well. Some planes that landed had their unloading halted, with luggage stuck on the tarmac without logistical solutions.
The Airports Authority pointed an accusing finger directly at the workers' committee, claiming these were deliberate disruptions harming operational continuity and the public. Authority management demanded an immediate return to regular work and made clear that if the actions did not cease, an urgent petition would be filed with the labor court to obtain injunctions. In response, the Transport Workers Union at the Histadrut firmly rejected attempts to portray the incident as a "wildcat strike" or organized action. The Histadrut claimed this was a foreseeable collapse resulting from severe and ongoing staff shortages, inadequate preparation for summer loads, and extreme worker burnout—with employees required to work hundreds of overtime hours monthly to cover for management failures.
Criticism of the staffing crisis is not new, with sources on the ground warning for months about a gap of approximately four hundred workers in sorting and transport. The complex background includes a problematic employment model at the Airports Authority, whereby temporary workers are fired each winter to prevent them from achieving permanent status, leading to high turnover and workers' unwillingness to return to the system during summer season.
Workers' committee chairman Pinchas Idan had already reached out to senior officials in June, warning against the dismissal of approximately 250 temporary workers and cautioning that the system would struggle to handle August's passenger loads.
