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ByAronHeller The Associated Press JERUSALEM A Hamas rocket exploded Tuesday near Israel's main airport, prompting a ban on all flights from the U.S. and many from Europe and Canada as aviation author- ities responded to the shock of seeing a civilian jetliner shot down over Ukraine. Israel declared that Ben- Gurion Airport was safe and said there was no rea- son to "hand terror a prize" by halting flights. The rare flight ban came as Israel grappled with news that a soldier went missing after an attack in the Gaza Strip, raising the possibil- ity he was abducted, a sce- nario that could complicate intense diplomatic efforts to end the two-week conflict. Palestinian militants have fired more than 2,000 rockets toward Israel since fighting began on July 8, but most — including several heading toward Tel Aviv — fell harmlessly into open ar- eas or were shot out of the sky by the "Iron Dome" de- fense system, keeping Is- raeli casualties low. Tuesday's rocket attack was the closest to the air- port so far, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri, and largely destroyed a house, slightly injuring one Israeli in the nearby Tel Aviv suburb of Yehud. Aviation authorities re- acted swiftly. The U.S. Fed- eral Aviation Administra- tion prohibited American airlines from flying to Tel Aviv for 24 hours "due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza." Later, the European Aviation Safety Agency is- sued an advisory to airlines saying it "strongly recom- mends" airlines avoid the airport. Germany's Lufthansa, Air France, Air Canada, Alitalia, Dutch KLM, Britain's easy- Jet, Turkish Airlines and Greece's Aegean Airlines were among those carriers canceling flights to Tel Aviv over safety concerns amid the increasing violence. Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz called on the U.S. aviation au- thority to reconsider, call- ing the flight ban "unnec- essary" and saying Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system provided cover for civil aviation. "Ben-Gurion Airport is safe and completely guarded and there is no rea- son whatsoever that Amer- ican companies would stop their flights and hand ter- ror a prize," his office said in a statement. However, international airlines and passengers have grown more anx- ious about safety since last week, when a Malaysia Air- lines jet was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 peo- ple on board. While Hamas rockets aren't guided mis- siles, they still can cause massive damage to an air- craft. For instance, un- guided mortar fire in Trip- oli from a militia battling to control its international airport destroyed an Airbus A330 on the ground over the weekend. The Tel Aviv airport is Is- rael's main gateway to the world and Hamas militants have said they hoped to tar- get it to disrupt life in Israel. Another Hamas objective was to abduct an Israeli sol- dier, and Israeli fears over such an occurrence were revisited Tuesday when the military announced that a soldier was missing after a deadly battle in Gaza, where Israelis are fighting Hamas militants in the third such war in just over five years. The military said Sgt. Oron Shaul was among seven soldiers in a vehicle that was hit by an anti-tank missile in a battle in Gaza over the weekend. The other six have been confirmed as dead, but no remains have been identified as Shaul's. ROCKET STRIKE Ai rl in es b an fl ig ht s to I sr ae l a er b la st By Karin Laub The Associated Press GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP Ibrahim Zain was driven from his home by Israeli tank fire this week, but says he'd rather endure more Is- rael-Hamas fighting than accept an unconditional cease-fire he fears will leave in place the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Like Zain, many Gaza res- idents say the closure, im- posed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, is like a slow death: It prevents them from travel- ing, from importing cement to build homes and increas- ingly from earning enough to feed their families. "We want a good life or no life," said the unem- ployed 44-year-old father of nine whose small scrap metal business fell victim to the blockade last year. Disagreement over whether and how to lift the Gaza closure is a key stum- bling block to ending more than two weeks of fighting between the Islamic mili- tant Hamas and Israel. And in a way, it is emerg- ing as the Gazan equiva- lent of what is single-mind- edly driving the Israelis — the rocket fire from Gaza, which they feel must stop at almost any cost. For the Ga- zans, it is the blockade that must stop, and the fact that Hamas is demanding this appears to have gained its tactics genuine support. Egypt wants an imme- diate end to hostilities, fol- lowed by undefined talks about easing access to Gaza. Israel accepted, but Hamas wants international guaran- tees that Gaza's borders will open before it stops fighting. Hamas distrusts Israel and Egypt, whose rulers tight- ened the Gaza blockade even more over the past year, pushing Hamas into a severe financial crisis. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who is mediating, took a middle ground Tuesday. He said fighting must stop now, but that underlying prob- lems setting off repeated vi- olence between Israel and Gaza must be addressed. Ban did not say whether Gaza should be opened, but that "no closure, no barrier, can separate Israelis and Palestinians from a funda- mental truth: You share a common future." Gaza residents say that without open borders, their lives will become increas- ingly desperate. "Open the blockade and then we halt fire," said Gaza City street cleaner Said Abu Seif, 40, as he cleared away debris Tuesday morning from a mosque and a gas station damaged hours ear- lier in an Israeli airstrike. If the closure continues, he said, "I don't see a future for my children." The last two weeks of fighting, including Israeli airstrikes and tank shell- ing, have led to widespread misery for Gaza's civilians. More than 620 Palestinians have been killed, more than 3,700 wounded and hun- dreds of houses damaged or destroyed. More than 100,000 people have sought shelter in U.N. schools where dozens are squeezed into each classroom. Despite the devastation, there has been no visible criticism of Hamas among Gazans for provoking such attacks by firing rockets at Israel. A resident of Shijaiyah, a Gaza City neighborhood devastated by heavy fight- ing over the weekend, said some of his neighbors pri- vately blame Hamas for the destruction but would never speak in public for fear of Hamas retribution. The res- ident spoke on condition of anonymity. Others, like Abu Seif, the street cleaner, said even though they are not Hamas supporters, they back the group's goal to open Gaza's borders, by force if neces- sary. Polls have suggested that only about one-third of Ga- za's 1.7 million people are supporters of Hamas, while others either back its rival, the Fatah movement of Pal- estinian President Mah- moud Abbas, or are not af- filiated. In times of confrontation with Israel, the popularity of Hamas tends to increase, while that of Abbas, who es- pouses non-violence and ne- gotiations with Israel, tends to drop. Israel has said it is at- tacking Hamas targets to halt rocket fire from Gaza on Israel. It has accused the militants of using civil- ians as human shields by firing rockets from densely populated areas and stor- ing weapons inside civil- ian sites. "The people of Gaza suf- fer because of the Hamas regime, a regime that sacri- fices the people of Gaza for its very extreme agenda," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. Hamas, a branch of the re- gion-wide Muslim Brother- hood, wants to establish an Islamic state in historic Pal- estine. STUMBLING BLOCK Gaza blockade key to any Israel-Hamas truce MAJDIMOHAMMED-THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Palestinians carry the body of Mahmoud Shawamreh, 21, during his funeral in the West Bank village of Al-Ram on Tuesday. Shawamreh died a er he was shot during clashes with Israeli troops Monday. TSAFRIR ABAYOV - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A relative of Israeli soldier Jordan Ben-Simon, who also holds French citizenship, mourn over his coffin during his funeral Tuesday in Ashkelon, Israel. Ben-Simon was killed while fighting in the Gaza Strip. By Denise Lavoie The Associated Press BOSTON A friend of Bos- ton Marathon bombing sus- pect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is believed to have provided the handgun used to kill a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer during the manhunt, peo- ple with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday. Stephen Silva made an initial appearance in fed- eral court on charges re- lated to heroin trafficking and possession of a hand- gun with an obliterated se- rial number. An attorney for Silva, Jonathan Shap- iro, said Tuesday evening that he had received the case only a few hours ear- lier and was not in a posi- tion to comment. The 9 mm Ruger pistol described in the indictment is the same handgun that was used to kill MIT police officer Sean Collier during the manhunt for the bomb- ing suspects, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au- thorized to discuss the in- vestigation. The grand jury indictment, which was filed July 15, does not mention Collier's slaying or any con- nection to Tsarnaev. The origin of the gun was among the lingering mysteries of the investiga- tion into the April 2013 at- tack, in which three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when twin bombs exploded near the finish line. Collier, 26-year- old MIT campus police offi- cer, was ambushed several days later and shot multiple times in his car. According to the in- dictment, Silva knowingly had possession of the gun, "which had the importer's and manufacturer's serial number removed, obliter- ated, and altered and had previously been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce." The indictment also al- leges that Silva conspired to distribute heroin this sum- mer in the Boston area. Silva is a friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He said in court Tuesday that he graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 2011, the same year as Tsar- naev. Silva was ordered to remain in custody ahead of a bail hearing scheduled for Aug. 6. Dzhokhar's brother, Ta- merlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a shootout with police several days after the bombings. Dzhokhar Tsar- naev escaped but was soon found, wounded and hid- ing in a boat dry-docked in a backyard in suburban Wa- tertown. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in No- vember. 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