The Israeli military said airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday targeted Houthi rebel-held by the capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida. The director-general of the World Health Organization said the attack happened as he was preparing to board a flight in Sanaa, injuring a crew member. The Israeli military later told The Associated Press that it did not know the WHO chief was there.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the WHO. said theadding that he and his colleagues were safe. “We will have to wait until the damage to the airport is repaired before we can leave.” He did not mention the source of the bombing.
Tedros said at least two people were killed in the airport attack. According to BBC Newsvideo from inside the airport shows panicked people running out of the terminal.
Khaled Abdallah / REUTERS
The latest strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and others have learned.” Netanyahu monitored the new strikes with military leaders, his government said.
The Israeli military said the targets included “military infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime for its military activities at both Sanaa International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power plants,” as well as other military infrastructure in several ports.
Iran-backed Houthi media confirmed the strikes in a Telegram post but did not immediately provide any details. Houthi media said three people were killed in the strikes and 14 others injured.
The US military has also targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.
The United Nations has noted that ports are important gateways for humanitarian aid. According to BBC News, Tedros was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and assess the humanitarian situation.
Over the weekend, 16 people were injured when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv. Last week, Israeli planes struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also target shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli strike outside hospital in Gaza
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinians outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the territory’s health ministry said. Gaza officials said they were journalists working for a local media outlet. The Israeli military said they were activists posing as journalists.
The strike hit a car in front of Al-Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The Palestinian Journalists Union said the victims worked for the local newspaper Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group, Reuters reported.
Ramadan Abed / REUTERS
Islamic Jihad is a smaller, more extremist ally of Hamas and participated in the October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel that sparked the war. The Israeli military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad members found by soldiers in Gaza, confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups conduct political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings.
Associated Press images showed the incinerated shell of a pickup truck, with press marks visible on the rear doors. Sobbing young men attended the funeral outside the hospital. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds and covered with blue press vests.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign journalists to enter Gaza except on military assignment.
Israel has banned the pan-Arab network Al Jazeera and accused six of its journalists in Gaza of being militants. The Qatar-based channel denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its coverage of the war, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties of Israeli military operations.
Separately, the Israeli army said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed Thursday morning during fighting in central Gaza. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground operation began more than a year ago.
The war began when Hamas-led militants crossed the border attacking nearby military bases, farming communities and a music festival. They killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped around 250. Around 100 hostages remain in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to have died.
Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. The offensive caused massive destruction and drove around 90% of the 2.3 million inhabitants from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of people are crammed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection cold and wet winter.
Also on Thursday, people mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli military operations in and around the town of Tulkarem in the occupied territories. West Bank Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said troops opened fire after militants attacked soldiers, and said it knew uninvolved civilians were injured in the raid.