WHO chief blamed Israel for the strike on the airport in Sanaa

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on December 30 that his plane in the Yemeni capital Sanaa was struck by Israel.

"While waiting to board our flight in Sana'a, the airport was attacked by an Israeli airstrike. This attack caused unnecessary deaths, injuries, panic, chaos and destruction and was another reminder of the growing threat faced by civilians, aid workers and medics in war zones around the world," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying."

Earlier on December 26, the Israeli Air Force launched a massive series of strikes in Yemen, including on the airport in Sanaa, where Gebreyesus was stationed. Three dead and 11 wounded were reported. Among the casualties was the assistant captain of a UN plane.

On the same day, the Houthis threatened a swift response to Israel's bombing of Yemen and then launched a rocket attack on Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Dec. 27.

On Dec. 28, Gebreyesus said that at the time of the strike, the airport was in chaos and people were running for cover in confusion. He escaped death by a miracle, he said.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.