The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he and his colleagues “narrowly escaped death” when they were caught in an Israeli airstrike on an airport in Yemen. .
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “completely exposed” during the attack, which killed at least six people, in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He and other UN staff were leaving Sanaa, in western Yemen, on Thursday after a trip to negotiate the release of UN detainees and assess the humanitarian situation in the country. when the airport was hit.
Israel's military said it carried out “intelligence-based strikes on military targets” belonging to Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
“It was very chaotic, you know, people were rioting and running everywhere,” Dr Tedros said on Saturday.
He said that “there was no shelter, so we were completely exposed. It's a matter of luck, otherwise if the bullet went a little way it could have been on our heads”.
“So my colleague said of course, after that, we narrowly escaped death,” he said.
The WHO chief – who has led the agency since 2017 and has made regular public appearances during the Covid pandemic – said his presence at the airport was public knowledge before the strike.
But he said: “It doesn't matter if I'm there or not. Any civilized life is a life – my life is no better than another human being.”
Dr. Tedros said that the airport is a civilian facility and therefore Israel should not have attacked it.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “totally exposed” during the attack (Getty Images)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airport was used by Houthi rebels “to bring into the area Iranian weapons” which they used to attack Israel, as well as to welcome “senior Iranian officials”.
“This is another example of Houthis using civilian infrastructure for military purposes,” he said.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said three people were killed at the airport and 30 others were wounded.
They said three more people were killed and 10 wounded in other strikes, which targeted power stations and a port in the area.
It is not clear if the dead were civilians or Houthi rebels.
The Iran-backed group called the attacks “barbaric” and “aggressive”. They vowed to continue strikes on Israel until the conflict in the Gaza Strip ceases.
Houthi rebels have been attacking Israel since the first months of the war, which began in October 2023 when Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing around 1,200.
Israel has retaliated against Houthi attacks with unprovoked strikes.
On Saturday, the Houthis said they had launched a strike on the Nevatim airbase in central Israel. The IDF said a missile from Yemen was intercepted by the air force before it entered Israeli airspace.
The Houthis are a political and religious armed group supported by Iran. The group has controlled large parts of western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since ousting the internationally recognized government in 2015.
