WHO Chief Was at Yemen Airport During Israeli Airstrikes
Sana’a (Quds News Network)- World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other UN staff were at Sana’a airport when a series of Israeli airstrikes targeted Yemen’s main airport on Thursday.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport,” the WHO chief said in a post on X.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he noted, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.
Tedros said he was in Yemen to “negotiate the release of UN staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation” in the country. He provided no further details about who the UN detainees were.
Our mission to negotiate the release of @UN staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in #Yemen concluded today. We continue to call for the detainees' immediate release.
As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport… pic.twitter.com/riZayWHkvf
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) December 26, 2024
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.
Yemen news agencies said three people were killed at the airport and 30 injured. They said another three people were killed and 10 wounded in the western Hodeidah province.
Yemen’s Houthi group described the attacks – which also hit power stations and ports – as “barbaric” and “aggressive”. Israel’s military claimed it carried out “intelligence-based strikes on military targets”.
UN Secretary General António Guterres called the strikes “especially alarming”.
“I regret the recent escalation between Yemen and Israel, and remain deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region.” he wrote on X.
Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli genocide. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, saying it is in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, more than half of them children and women, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
