WHO chief says narrowly escaped death in Israeli strikes on Yemen airport

The head of the World Health Organization said Saturday he only narrowly escaped death in fatal Israeli strikes on the airport in Yemen's Huthi rebel-held capital.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told BBC radio his ears were still ringing following Thursday's attack as he prepared to board a flight in Sanaa, and stressed that the protection for civilian installations under international law must be respected.

Israeli air strikes hit Sanaa's international airport and other targets in Yemen on Thursday. The attacks against what Israel's military called rebel "military targets" marked the second time since December 19 that Israel has hit targets in Yemen after rebel missile fire towards Israel.

The UN health agency's chief described the scene as the first strike hit.

"We heard a heavy explosion nearby, and then I think repeated," Tedros said.

"The sound was so, so loud... So deafening, actually. Still my ear rings. It's already more than 24 hours now. I don't know if it affected my ear. The explosion was so heavy.

"It was the departure lounge next to us that was hit, and later on the control tower.

"It was very chaotic. People were in disarray and running everywhere and no shelter: we were completely exposed.

"It's a matter of luck. Otherwise, if the missile deviated just slightly, it could have been on our heads... my colleague actually said after all that, we escaped death narrowly."

- 'Very dangerous' -

Huthi Deputy Transport Minister Yahya al-Sayani said four people were killed and 20 wounded in the strikes.

Tedros was visiting Yemen on behalf of UN chief Antonio Guterres 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.

As for whether Israel knew he was at the airport at the time, Tedros said: "Our flights and so on are internationally known. So I would assume that the people who like to know, know. I would assume that. But I think it would be good to ask Israel on this.

"It doesn't matter whether I am there or not... if it's a civilian installation, it has to be protected, based on international law.

"Whether they knew or not, it doesn't matter... international law should be respected."

Tedros said he saw a departure lounge full of civilians and civilian aircraft parked on the apron.

"What I know is that it's a civilian airport. If there is anything else -- I haven't seen. But I know it was serving, at the time, civilian flights."

On X, Tedros posted video from the strikes and thanked colleagues and airport staff who tried to protect him during the "very dangerous attack". He and his team flew to safety in Jordan.

"My heart goes out to our colleagues on the front lines and the civilians who face such danger every day," he added.