WHO chief narrowly escapes from Israel’s strikes in Yemen

A brand new spherical of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday (December 26, 2024) focused the Houthi rebel-held capital and a number of ports, whereas the World Well being Group’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated the bombardment occurred close by as he ready to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured.

“The air visitors management tower, the departure lounge — only a few meters from the place we had been — and the runway had been broken,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on the social media platform X.

He added that he and U.N. colleagues had been protected. “We might want to await the injury to the airport to be repaired earlier than we are able to go away,” he stated, with out mentioning the supply of the bombardment. U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later stated the injured individual was with the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service.

Not less than three individuals had been later reported killed and dozens injured within the airport strike. The U.N. staff members left the airport and had been “protected and sound” in Sanaa whereas the injured crew member was being handled at a hospital, she stated.

Mr. Tremblay stated the injury evaluation could be made on Friday (December 27, 2024) morning to see whether or not WHO chief and the U.N. staff can go away Yemen.

U.N. Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres condemned the escalation in assaults between Yemen and Israel and described Thursday’s (December 26, 2024) assaults as “particularly alarming,” Mr. Tremblay stated.

Israel’s military later advised The Related Press it wasn’t conscious that the WHO chief or delegation was on the location in Yemen.

The Israeli strikes adopted a number of days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli army in an announcement stated it attacked infrastructure utilized by the Iran-backed Houthis on the worldwide airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, together with energy stations, asserting they had been used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officers.

Israel’s army added it had “capabilities to strike very removed from Israel’s territory — exactly, powerfully, and repetitively.”

The strikes, carried out over 1,000 miles from Jerusalem, got here a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated “the Houthis, too, will study what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others realized” as his army has battled these extra highly effective proxies of Iran.

The Houthi-controlled satellite tv for pc channel al-Masirah reported a number of deaths and confirmed damaged home windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained ground and automobile. Iran’s international ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. army additionally has focused the Houthis in latest days.

The U.N. has stated the focused ports are necessary entryways for humanitarian assist for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that plunged right into a civil battle in 2014.

Over the weekend, 16 individuals had been wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground within the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv, whereas different missiles and drones have been shot down. Final week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing 9 individuals, calling it a response to earlier Houthi assaults. The Houthis even have been concentrating on transport on the Purple Sea hall, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The U.N. Safety Council has an emergency assembly Monday (December 30, 2024) in response to an Israeli request that it condemn the Houthi assaults and Iran for supplying them weapons.

In the meantime, an Israeli strike killed 5 Palestinian journalists exterior a hospital in Gaza in a single day, the territory’s Well being Ministry stated. The Israeli army stated all had been militants posing as reporters.

The strike hit a automobile exterior Al-Awda Hospital within the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists had been working for native information outlet Al-Quds At the moment, a tv channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Islamic Jihad is a smaller and extra excessive ally of Hamas and took half within the October 7, 2023 assault in southern Israel that ignited the battle. Israel’s army recognized 4 of the boys as fight propagandists and stated that intelligence, together with a listing of Islamic Jihad operatives discovered by troopers in Gaza, had confirmed that each one 5 had been affiliated with the group.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and different Palestinian militant teams function political, media and charitable operations along with their armed wings.

Related Press footage confirmed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings seen on the again doorways. Sobbing younger males attended the funeral. The our bodies had been wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Defend Journalists says greater than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed for the reason that begin of the battle. Israel hasn’t allowed international reporters to enter Gaza besides on army embeds.

Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera community and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of attempting to silence its battle protection, which has centered closely on civilian casualties from Israeli army operations.

Individually, Israel’s army stated a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed throughout preventing in central Gaza. A complete of 389 troopers have been killed in Gaza for the reason that begin of the bottom operation.

Israel’s air and floor offensive has killed greater than 45,000 Palestinians, in keeping with the Well being Ministry. It says greater than half the fatalities have been girls and youngsters, however would not say how lots of the lifeless had been fighters. Israel says it has killed greater than 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.

The offensive has triggered widespread destruction and starvation and pushed round 90% of the inhabitants of two.3 million from their houses. A whole bunch of 1000’s are packed into squalid camps alongside the coast, with little safety from the chilly, moist winter.

Additionally Thursday (December 26, 2024), individuals mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli army operations in and round Tulkarem within the occupied West Financial institution on Tuesday (December 24, 2024), in keeping with the Palestinian Well being Ministry. The Israeli army stated it opened fireplace after militants attacked troopers, and it was conscious of uninvolved civilians who had been harmed within the raid.