Israel strikes Houthi rebels as WHO chief says he was meters away

By JOSEF FEDERMAN and WAFAA SHURAFA, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital Sanaa and several ports on Thursday, as the director-general of the World Health Organization said the bombing occurred nearby, as he prepared to board a flight to Sanaa. , with one crew member injured.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media platform X.

He added that he and his UN colleagues were safe. “We will have to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” he said, without naming the source of the bombing. UN spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay later said the injured person was with the UN humanitarian air service.

The Israeli strikes followed several days in which Houthi launches set off sirens in Israel. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Iran-backed Houthis at Sanaa International Airport and the ports of the cities of Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, along with power plants, saying they were used to smuggle Iranian weapons and entry of senior Iranian officials.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about Tedros’ post, but issued a statement saying it had “capabilities to strike very far from Israeli territory – precisely, powerfully and repetitively.”

The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis will also learn what Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime and others have learned” as his military battled these more powerful proxies of Iran . Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Houthi media confirmed the strikes in a Telegram post, and the Houthi-controlled al-Masirah satellite channel reported multiple deaths. Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks. The US military has also targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

The United Nations noted that the targeted ports are important gateways for humanitarian aid to Yemen, the poorest Arab nation which plunged into a civil war in 2014.

Over the weekend, 16 people were injured when a Houthi missile hit a playground in the Israeli city of Tel Avivwhile other missiles and drones were shot down. Last week, Israeli planes struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis have also targeted shipping in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday in response to Israel’s demand that the council condemn Houthi attacks and Iran for supplying arms to the rebels.

5 journalists killed in Gaza

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnightdeclared the Ministry of Health from the territory. The Israeli military said they were all militants posing as reporters.

The strike hit a car in front of Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists were working for the local news station Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Islamic Jihad is a smaller, more extreme ally of Hamas and took part 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 operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups operate political, media and charity operations in addition to their armed wings.

Associated Press images showed the charred body of a van, with press markings visible on the rear doors. Weeping youths attended the funeral outside the hospital. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, with blue press jackets draped over them.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the war began. Israel did not allow foreign reporters to enter Gaza except as part of the army.

Israel banned the pan-Arab network Al Jazeera and accused six of its reporters in Gaza of being militants. The Qatari broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its coverage of the war, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.

Another Israeli soldier was killed

Separately, the Israeli military said a 35-year-old reservist was killed during fighting in central Gaza early Thursday. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground operation began more than a year ago.