Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital. WHO chief says he was close by

JERUSALEM — A brand new spherical of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday focused the Houthi rebel-held capital and a number of ports, whereas the World Well being Group’s director-general stated the bombardment occurred close by as he ready to board a flight in Sanaa, with a 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 stated on the social media platform X.

He added that he and U.N. colleagues have been protected. “We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” 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.

The Israeli strikes adopted a number of days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli navy 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 have been used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officers.

Israel’s navy did not instantly reply to questions on Tedros’ publish however issued a press release saying it had “capabilities to strike very far from Israel’s territory — precisely, 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 learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned” as his navy has battled these extra highly effective proxies of Iran.

The Houthi-controlled satellite tv for pc channel al-Masirah reported a number of deaths. Iran’s overseas ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. navy additionally has focused the Houthis in current days.

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

Over the weekend, 16 folks have 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 folks, 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 scheduled an emergency assembly Monday in response to an Israeli request that the council condemn the Houthi assaults and Iran for supplying them weapons.

5 journalists are killed in Gaza

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 navy stated all have been militants posing as reporters.

The strike hit a automotive exterior Al-Awda Hospital within the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists have been working for native information outlet Al-Quds Right now, 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 Oct. 7, 2023 assault in southern Israel that ignited the warfare. Israel’s navy 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 have 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 have been wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Shield Journalists says greater than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed because the begin of the warfare. Israel hasn’t allowed overseas reporters to enter Gaza besides on navy 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 warfare protection, which has centered closely on civilian casualties from Israeli navy operations.

The toll continues to mount in Gaza

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

The warfare started when Hamas-led militants stormed throughout the border, killing round 1,200 folks, principally civilians, and abducting round 250. About 100 hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, no less than a 3rd believed to be lifeless.

Israel’s air and floor offensive has killed greater than 45,000 Palestinians, in response to 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 have been fighters. Israel says it has killed greater than 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.

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

Additionally Thursday, folks mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli navy operations in and across the metropolis of Tulkarem within the occupied West Financial institution on Tuesday, in response to the Palestinian Well being Ministry. The Israeli navy stated that it opened hearth after militants attacked troopers, and it was conscious of uninvolved civilians who have been harmed within the raid.