A UN official raised alarms on Friday over Israeli strikes on key civilian sites in Yemen, including the Sana’a International Airport, where a UN worker was injured. Julien Harneis, the UN’s resident coordinator in Yemen, emphasized that parties involved in the conflict are obligated to avoid targeting civilians and must prove their targets are military, not the other way around.
His comments followed Israel’s airstrike on Yemen, which occurred while WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was preparing to depart. The strike injured a UN worker, who was evacuated for medical care. Tedros had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff held hostage by the Houthi group and to assess the dire humanitarian crisis.
Harneis pointed out that Sana’a Airport has been a civilian facility since 2016, serving the UN and other humanitarian organizations, and warned that international law mandates all parties respect its civilian nature.
The Houthis, in solidarity with Palestinians, have also targeted Israel and Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the US and UK have been bombing Houthi targets.
The conflict in Yemen continues to devastate the population, with 18 million people needing humanitarian aid. Harneis warned that this number is expected to rise to 19 million in the coming year due to worsening economic conditions and ongoing violence.
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