Jews and people flying to the United States were specifically targeted during a suicide bomb attack at Brussels airport last year.

It has emerged that the departure lounge for flights to Tel Aviv was among the original targets of the coordinated terrorist attacks on March 22 in which 32 people were killed and 300 injured.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks, at Zaventem airport and an hour later at Maalbeek metro station. Belgian authorities are continuing an investigation into the bombings.

“We know they wanted to target Americans,” said a source from the investigation speaking to the French news service AFP.

“We know they were obsessed with Israelis too.”

According to AFP, security camera footage shows one of the bombers standing among 60 high school students before he started to follow two Charedi Jews.

"The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews,” one of the sources told AFP. “He really clearly wanted to kill a Jew.”

Mohammed Abrini, who left the airport without detonating his bomb and was later arrested, reportedly confirmed to a Belgian court that Americans and Israelis were targets. An airport source told AFP that Abrini’s bomb was left near the United Airlines and El Al counters.  

Two Jews were injured during the attacks, which investigators believe were organised by the same people who carried out the terror attacks in Paris a few months earlier.