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

Smoke rises from the area around Yemen's Sanaa International Airport following an airstrike on Thursday. The Israeli military reported targeting infrastructure used by the Houthis at the airport, as well as a number of ports and power stations.

Smoke rises from the realm round Yemen’s Sanaa Worldwide Airport following an airstrike on Thursday. The Israeli army reported concentrating on infrastructure utilized by the Houthis on the airport, in addition to various ports and energy stations.

Osamah Abdulrahman/AP

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Osamah Abdulrahman/AP

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 mentioned the bombardment occurred close by as he ready to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured.

“The air site visitors management tower, the departure lounge — only a few meters from the place we had been — and the runway had been broken,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned on the social media platform X.

He added that he and U.N. colleagues had been protected. “We might want to look forward to the harm to the airport to be repaired earlier than we are able to depart,” he mentioned, with out mentioning the supply of the bombardment.

U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later mentioned the injured particular person was with the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service.

A minimum of three individuals had been later reported killed and dozens injured within the airport strike. The U.N. staff members left the airport and had been “protected and sound” in Sanaa whereas the injured crew member was being handled at a hospital, she mentioned.

Tremblay mentioned the harm evaluation could be made on Friday morning to see whether or not WHO chief and the U.N. staff can depart Yemen.

U.N. Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres condemned the escalation in assaults between Yemen and Israel and described Thursday’s assaults as “particularly alarming,” Tremblay mentioned.

Israel’s military later advised The Related Press it wasn’t conscious that the WHO chief or delegation was on the location in Yemen.

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

Israel’s army added it had “capabilities to strike very removed from Israel’s territory — exactly, powerfully, and repetitively.”

The strikes, carried out over 1,000 miles from Jerusalem, got here a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned “the Houthis, too, will study what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others realized” as his army has battled these extra highly effective proxies of Iran.

The Houthi-controlled satellite tv for pc channel al-Masirah reported a number of deaths and confirmed damaged home windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained flooring and car. Iran’s overseas ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. army additionally has focused the Houthis in current days.

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

An Israeli airstrike ignited a huge fire at an oil storage facility at Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah on Saturday. Israel said the attack was in response to a drone strike by the Houthi militia that killed an Israeli man in Tel Aviv on Friday.

Over the weekend, 16 individuals had 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 individuals, calling it a response to earlier Houthi assaults. The Houthis even have been concentrating on delivery on the Crimson 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 mentioned. The Israeli army mentioned all had been militants posing as reporters.

The strike hit a automobile exterior Al-Awda Hospital within the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists had been working for native information outlet Al-Quds At present, a tv channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, on Thursday.

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 army recognized 4 of the boys as fight propagandists and mentioned that intelligence, together with a listing of Islamic Jihad operatives discovered by troopers in Gaza, had confirmed that each one 5 had 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 had been wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Defend Journalists says greater than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed for the reason that begin of the warfare. Israel hasn’t allowed overseas reporters to enter Gaza besides on army 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 targeted closely on civilian casualties from Israeli army operations.

The toll continues to mount in Gaza

Individually, Israel’s army mentioned a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed throughout combating in central Gaza. A complete of 389 troopers have been killed in Gaza for the reason that begin of the bottom operation.

The U.S. and Britain carry out strikes on 18 Houthi targets in Yemen

The warfare started when Hamas-led militants stormed throughout the border, killing round 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and abducting round 250. About 100 hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, not 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 ladies and kids, however would not say how most of the lifeless had been fighters. Israel says it has killed greater than 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.

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

Additionally Thursday, individuals mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli army 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 army mentioned that it opened hearth after militants attacked troopers, and it was conscious of uninvolved civilians who had been harmed within the raid.