Eleven air raids hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa, including the vicinity of Al-Sabeen Square, where around one million people were taking part in a weekly pro-Palestine march.
The Harf Sufyan District was hit by 12 airstrikes in the Amran Governorate of northern Yemen, while six hit the Hodeidah port west of the country. One strike also targeted the Ras Issa port north of Hodeidah.
The main power station in Haziz, south of Sanaa, was struck as well.
Israel’s military said it attacked sites in Yemen controlled by Houthi fighters, including a power station near the capital Sanaa, and the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa.
Several people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon’s south with Israel’s military saying later that it was still “committed to the understanding of the ceasefire” with Lebanon.
What was most frightening about that air strike wasn‘t the effect on us, it was that it began as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Airways, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land. In fact, the plane was taxiing when the air traffic control was destroyed.
Fortunately, that plane was able to land safely, and the passengers were able to disembark but it could have been far, far worse.
The airport is civilian infrastructure. It is where all the international humanitarian aid workers who work in the north of the country enter and leave, so if the airport is disabled it will paralyze humanitarian operations.
It‘s also the airport by which thousands of Yemenis who are unable to get advanced healthcare in the country leave for health facilities in Jordan, Cairo or Mumbai. So, it is an absolute vital humanitarian location. It is essential that all parties to the conflict scrupulously observe international humanitarian law.”
Immediately after the airstrikes, Harneis said, U.N. security officials moved the delegation out of the VIP building and into five armored cars where they waited for approximately 40 minutes to ascertain what happened and help the injured crew member.
He was taken to a hospital in Sanaa and underwent four hours of surgery while the rest of the delegation spent the night in a U.N. compound, Harneis said. The U.N. plane with Tedros and the U.N. team, including the injured crew member, was able to depart for Jordan on Friday afternoon – without an operating control tower.
The United Nations said the injured crew member was taken to a hospital in Jordan, and Tedros was heading back to Geneva, where WHO is based,
(December 26, 2024)
As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about three hours ago (around 5 pm local time), 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. We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave.
Tedros was in Yemen to negotiation the release of UN staffers who have been held hostage by the Houthi movement for several months, and assess the health and humanitarian situation in the country.
With the mission concluded, explained the WHO chief, he and his team were about to board their flight out of the country, when the airport came under attack. As well as two reported deaths, a member of his plane’s crew was injured.
The air traffic control tower and the departure lounge were both damaged. Tedros and his team were just metres away but are unharmed.