Houthi rebels fire missile at Israel hours after airstrikes on Yemen airport
27 December 2024, 21:44
The Israeli military said the Houthi missile was intercepted by its air defences on Friday before it entered Israeli territory.
Houthi rebels in Yemen have fired a missile at Israel hours after a wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s main airport as the World Health Organisation’s director-general was about to board a flight there.
Three people were killed and dozens were wounded in the Israeli airstrikes, including a member of the UN plane’s crew, the UN said.
The crew member underwent surgery and was in stable condition, the international body said on Friday.
The Israeli military said the Houthi missile was intercepted by its air defences on Friday before it entered Israeli territory.
For several days this past week, Houthi launches have set off air raid sirens in Israel. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
United Nations humanitarian official for Yemen Julien Harneis witnessed the strikes on Thursday.
“Fortunately, that plane was able to land safely and the passengers were able to disembark, but it could have been far, far worse,” Mr Harneis told UN reporters on Friday.
Mr Harneis said the staff in the airport’s control tower were killed — the UN has said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded. Mr Harneis said shrapnel hit a crew member from the UN Humanitarian Air Service, who suffered a serious leg injury and lost a lot of blood.
Mr Harneis emphasised that the airport is civilian, not military, and is used for transporting UN and other humanitarian workers, and for one civilian flight — Yemenia Airways to and from Amman, Jordan.
It operates as a result of an international agreement and thousands of Yemenis have used the flight to get advanced medical treatment abroad, he said.
Israel’s military says it was not aware the WHO chief or the delegation was at the location in Yemen. The UN team, including the wounded air crew member, have since left Yemen for Jordan.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.
Hamas ignited the war with its October 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage by Palestinian militants.
Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although only two-thirds are believed to still be alive.
