Panic in Israeli airport as US tourists bring unexploded shell from occupied Golan Heights

An American family set off a bomb scare at Israel's main airport on Thursday when they showed security inspectors an unexploded shell which they found while visiting the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and had packed for their return trip, authorities said.

Video circulated on social media showed panicked passengers scattering at Ben Gurion Airport's departure hall.

The Israel Airports Authority said a man was hospitalised with injuries sustained as he tried to flee over a baggage carousel.

مقطع يوثق حالة هلع حدثت الليلة في مطار بن غوريون الاسرائيلي خوفا من جسم مشبوه بعد الفحص لم يعثر على شيء ! pic.twitter.com/y5yWfaZ80A

— Tamer Almisshal تامر المسحال (@TamerMisshal) April 28, 2022

Israeli media reported that during the family’s  Golan Heights trip one of the children found and took a bombshell they were planning to take home as a souvenir.

The Golan Heights region in southwestern Syria was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war and annexed in 1981, in a move not recognised by the international community.

A family member showed the shell to security agents at the airport’s luggage check-in asking if they could put it in their suitcase, which prompted security to call for an evacuation of the area.

Authorities said the family was allowed to board their flight after an interrogation by security staff, who declared an all-clear.

Israel has built several settlements in the occupied region, where remnants from the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israel wars can be still be found.

(Reporting by Reuters and New Arab staff)