THE head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has come under fire as an Israeli air strike landed “just a few meters away” from him.
Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was in Sanaa airport in Yemen when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted the building with an air strike.
Yemen's Houthi-run broadcaster Al Masirah reported that three people were killed in the strikes, with a further 11 wounded.
Two of those who were reportedly killed were at the airport in Sanaa.
Ghebreyesus posted on the social media site X/Twitter that the air strike was just a “few meters away” from him and his WHO and UN colleagues.
“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 air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged.
He added that his UN and WHO colleagues are safe, and that they will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before they can leave the country.
“Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Wednesday that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned”.
He added that Israel would continue striking the Houthis in Yemen “until the job is done”.
Three ports along the western coast of Yemen were also targeted by Israeli missiles with one person reportedly killed.
In a video statement released after the Israeli strikes, Netanyahu said: “We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil.
“We will continue until we complete the job.”
In a statement posted on X/Twitter by the IDF, it said IAF fighter jets “conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen”.
It added that targets struck by the IDF “include military infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime for its military activities in both the Sana’a International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations”.
