WHO chief escapes Israeli strikes

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), who was at the Sanaa airport in Yemen amid an Israeli bombardment on Thursday, said there was damage to infrastructure but he remained safe.

In a statement on X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus 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.

Referring to the strikes on Sanaa’s airport, he said: “The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged.

“We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” Dr Tedros added.

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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.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its “fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen”.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was in Yemen as part of a mission to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situations in the war-torn country. He said the mission “concluded today”, and “we continue to call for the detainees’ immediate release.” While about to board their flight, he said “the airport came under aerial bombardment”.