How we escaped bombardment in Yemen’s airport – WHO DG

The Director-General, World Health Organization, Dr Tedro Ghebreyesus has narrated how him and United Nations officials escaped bombardment that occured at the Sanaa airport, Yemen on Thursday, 26th December, 2024.

The DG who explained the narraw escape in a statement released by the Agency said, “As we were about to board flight from Sana’a, about three hours ago (around 5 pm local time), the airport came under aerial bombardment.
He added, “One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport. The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged. 

“We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave. My UN and WHO colleagues and I are safe. Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack”, Dr Tedro Ghebreyesus said.
This team just concluded a mission to negotiate the release of the United Nations staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in Yemen before the attack while they still called for the detainees’ immediate release. 

It was reported that the Israeli Air Force launched a series of strikes targeting Houthi terror infrastructure in Yemen, including the Sanaa International Airport and the port of Hodeidah.
The report further added that the strikes came in response to ongoing Houthi ballistic missile attacks targeting the Israeli civilians, which have escalated recently, and were carried out while Houthi leader Abdulmalik Al-Houthi was delivering a speech.

Moreover, the sources reported that the UN airplane’s co-captain had been injured and was transported to a hospital after the Israeli aggression on the airport, adding that two other airport employees were also killed as a result of the attack.