The U.N. air crew member hurt in an air strike on Yemen's main international airport on Thursday suffered serious injuries but is now recovering in hospital, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said on Friday.
People walk near damaged buildings of Sanaa Airport, following an Israeli airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, December 27, 2024. Reuters/Khaled Abdullah
The U.N. air crew member hurt in an air strike on Yemen's main international airport on Thursday suffered serious injuries but is now recovering in hospital, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Israel said it struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said at least six people were killed.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was in the airport waiting to depart when the aerial bombardment took place and said that a member of his plane's crew was injured.
The injured man, who worked for the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service, had to be operated on, the WHO spokesperson said. He appeared to be recovering satisfactorily, the person added.
Tedros, who was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained U.N. staff and to assess the humanitarian situation, would continue working in the country until his flight is able to depart, the WHO spokesperson said.
That could be on Friday, but no decision has yet been made, the WHO spokesperson said.
Writing by Dave Graham
More than 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes since fighting in Yemen began in recent weeks, according to data released on Wednesday by the United Nations' International Organization for Migration.
Houthis attacked the international airport in the southern Yemeni town of Aden with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones early on Wednesday, Yemen's Transport Ministry said, as fighting intensified across several fronts between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi-backed government forces.
Israelis will on Wednesday mark three years since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a military assault that destroyed much of Gaza, where conditions remain dire despite a year-old ceasefire that is meant to halt the war for good.
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