The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, revealed Thursday that he was present at Yemen’s Sanaa airport when it was struck by Israeli airstrikes. Tedros shared on X that just before he and his team were about to board their flight, the airport came under attack. He reported that one of the flight crew was injured, and at least two others were killed in the bombing.
The airstrikes caused significant damage, including to the air traffic control tower, the departure lounge, and the runway, all of which were just meters from where Tedros and his team were standing. As a result, the WHO mission had to wait for repairs before they could depart. Despite the chaos, Tedros confirmed that he and his colleagues were unharmed and offered condolences to those who lost their lives in the attack.
The WHO delegation had been in Yemen to discuss the release of UN staff detainees and to assess the country’s dire health and humanitarian crisis, which wrapped up on Thursday. The strikes are part of Israel’s ongoing military actions in Yemen, which have escalated alongside the tensions from the Gaza conflict. In retaliation, the Houthis have targeted Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea, expressing solidarity with Gaza, where the death toll has soared past 45,000 since the start of Israel’s war in October 2023.
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