The Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. carriers from flying to Tel Aviv until around midday Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday after a rocket attack early Tuesday near the city's Ben Gurion International Airport.

The European Aviation Safety Agency, based in Cologne, Germany, also issued a notice to airlines similar to the FAA's, covering European carriers flying to Tel Aviv. It stopped short of an outright ban and said it "strongly recommends" halting flights for an unspecified period.

Israeli officials criticized the U.S. action and a spokeswoman for Israel's flag carrier, El Al Israel Airlines Ltd., said it would continue flying as scheduled. A number of European carriers also continued flights to the country's principal international gateway.

Earlier Tuesday, Delta Air Lines Inc., American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. said they were canceling flights to Israel until further notice after reports that a rocket landed near Ben Gurion Airport.

A Delta-operated Boeing 747 from New York was flying over the Mediterranean Sea headed for Tel Aviv on Tuesday when it turned around and flew to Paris instead. Delta Air Lines Flight 468 had 273 passengers and 17 crew on board.

United said Tuesday that it was suspending its two daily Tel Aviv flights until further notice. The airline said one of its planes left Tel Aviv with passengers earlier Tuesday and the second was still on the ground there. United was working on plans to remove the second Boeing 777.

United said it reached its decision after the FAA communicated with airlines earlier Tuesday.

Airlines and passengers are growing more anxious about safety since a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying over eastern Ukraine was shot down last week, killing all 298 people on board.

Israel's transportation minister, Yisrael Katz, reacted angrily to the airlines' moves. "There is no reason for these companies to stop flights. They have given a prize to terror," he said.

American Airlines said it canceled its Philadelphia-Tel Aviv flight that was supposed to depart Tuesday night. It also canceled its Tel Aviv-Philadelphia flight that was supposed to leave Israel earlier Tuesday. That plane is on the ground at the airport. American said the crew will ferry it out without passengers because the FAA won't let it take off with passengers on board.

European airlines followed, as Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it would suspend operations to Tel Aviv for 36 hours. Air France said it was suspending flights to Tel Aviv until further notice as it monitored the situation on the ground.

Dutch carrier KLM also said it would cancel flights, citing the unclear security situation. The airline previously moved its crew-change base to Larnaca, Cyprus from Tel Aviv.

An Air Canada flight headed to Toronto from Tel Aviv left as scheduled earlier Tuesday, but the airline canceled a flight to Tel Aviv.

The FAA issued its notice at 12.15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and said it would provide further guidance within 24 hours.

—Bart Koster and Doug Cameron contributed to this article.

Write to Susan Carey at susan.carey@wsj.com and Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com