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The director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed with a post on X his presence at Sana'a airport in Yemen when it came under Israeli attack on Thursday.
"Our mission to negotiate the release of UN staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in Yemen concluded today. We continue to call for the detainees' immediate release," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote.
"As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment. 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," he said.
Ghebreyesus did not name Israel as the attacker.
"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."
Five members of staff at northern Gaza's besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital were killed in Israeli air raids on Thursday, the hospital's director Dr Hussam Abu Safiyyah said.
The dead were identified as:
1) Dr. Ahmad Samour, paedatrician
2) Esraa Abu Zaidah, lab technician.
3) Abdul Majid Abu Al-Eish, paramedic.
4) Maher Al-Ajrami, paramedic
5) Fares Al-Houdali, maintenance technician.
The Lebanese news outlet Al-Mayadeen, citing its own sources, has said that that two senior UN officials were present at Sana'a airport aas it came under attack by Israel on Thursday.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organisation, and Julien Harneis, the UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen, were reportedly present in nearby buildings.
"Additionally, the co-captain of a UN airplane was injured and transported to a hospital, and two airport employees were also killed in the attack," Al-Mayadeen said.
#BREAKING | Sources confirmed to #AlMayadeen that the Israeli aggression on #Sanaa Airport occurred while two prominent UN officials were present: the WHO Director and the UN Resident Coordinator.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 26, 2024
Additionally, the co-captain of a UN airplane was injured and transported to a… pic.twitter.com/g3DN1WVONb
The Israeli army has confirmed it had carried out a series of air strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, targeting Sanaa International Airport, Red Sea ports, power stations and oil refineries.
The military said it struck al-Aziz and Ras Kanatib power stations, which supply electricity for Sanaa, as well as al-Salif and Ras Kanatib seaports in Hodeidah, located in western Yemen.
According to the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, dozens of Israeli jets took part in the strikes, leading to the closure of Sanaa’s international airport.
Haaretz quoted Israeli sources as saying: "The airport was shut down, and in Israel, they wanted to send a message that if there are no departures at Ben Gurion, there will be no departures in Yemen either."
Earlier, the Houthi movement’s Almasirah TV described the attacks as “Israeli aggression” on Sanaa.
Meanwhile, videos circulating online show smoke rising from various locations in Sanaa, including the airport.
Israel has conducted several air strikes across Yemen's capital, Sanaa, including on Sanaa International Airport, Middle East Eye has been reporting.
Now, the Houthi-run Almasirah network has reported “Israeli aggression” targeting Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah. According to its reporters, the strikes have also hit the central power station in Haiz.
Israel and its western allies have repeatedly shelled Sanaa and Hodeidah, targeting its oil and power stations.
The Israeli army has confirmed it carried out the strikes in Yemen, saying they were directed at Houthi targets.
Several explosions have been reported across Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in various locations, including Sanaa International Airport.
According to Israeli media outlet Haaretz, the Israeli army has carried out strikes on the airport and the Hodeidah seaport in western Yemen.
Meanwhile, some videos shared online show smoke rising over Sanaa.
The attack comes as Israel continues to discuss the possibility of a major air strike on Yemen in retaliation for Houthi attacks on Israeli areas.
Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has claimed responsibility for striking an Israeli Merkava tank with an explosive device near a mosque in Gaza City's southern Zeitoun neighbourhood.
The group also reported close-quarters combat with Israeli infantry forces, stating that Palestinian fighters inflicted casualties on the soldiers.
According to Israeli sources cited by Haaretz, the Israeli military will occupy Lebanon for over 60 days, contrary to prior agreements.
These sources stated that Israeli forces will stay until the Lebanese army has fully taken control of the southern region of the country.
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians since Thursday morning, medical sources in Gaza have reported.
Of those killed, 27 were in the northern region of the Gaza Strip, as the brutal assault continues to wreak havoc on the besieged enclave.
Three Palestinian babies have died from hypothermia in southern Gaza over the past two days, as a suffocating Israeli siege makes harsh winter conditions uninhabitable.
Doctors reported on Wednesday that a three-week-old girl froze to death overnight as temperatures plummeted amid a wet winter across the war-battered Palestinian enclave.
The baby's tent was not sealed against the wind and the ground was cold, the doctors said.
On Thursday, another baby, Sila Mahmoud al-Faseeh, was found unresponsive. By the time doctors reached her, her lungs had deteriorated and she was declared dead from hypothermia.
"In the morning, when her mother was going to breastfeed her again, we found her blue, with blood coming from her mouth due to the cold," her father said in a video shared online, holding her in a white shroud with her purple lips visible against her pale face.
"She had bitten her tongue and was frozen."
Read more: Palestinian infants freeze to death amid Israeli siege
The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has given preliminary approval to a draft law granting the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Education the authority to deny teaching licenses to individuals holding university degrees from Palestinian academic institutions, the Wafa news agency reported.
The draft passed with 40 votes in favour and nine against.
Under the proposed legislation, teachers in East Jerusalem who earned their degrees at Palestinian universities will be required to pursue further studies at Israeli academic institutions to maintain their positions.
The law exempts those who obtained their degrees or completed most of their studies before it comes into effect.
The Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday that 38 people were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since 7 October last year to 45,399.
In a statement, the ministry also reported that at least 107,940 people have been wounded during Israel’s war on Gaza.
An Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian journalists in a clearly marked vehicle outside a hospital in central Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities and multiple media reports.
The journalists from Al-Quds Today were outside al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp when their van was struck by an Israeli strike on Thursday morning.
Images from the scene show a white-coloured van with the word "press" clearly written in large red letters, engulfed in flames.
The slain journalists were Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed al-Ladah, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan and Ayman al-Jadi.
Jadi had gone to al-Awda Hospital with his wife, who was giving birth to their first child.,
According to the Wafa news agency, while waiting for his wife, he decided to check in on his colleagues who were outside the hospital in the vehicle.
Read more: Israel kills five journalists in clearly marked press vehicle in Gaza
The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, called on Thursday for a timely Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, citing what it described as Israeli violations of a 27 November ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a 60-day ceasefire, which includes a phased Israeli military withdrawal after more than a year of war, in line with a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that ended their last major conflict.
"Unifil continues to urge the timely withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces and the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces (in place of Hezbollah) in southern Lebanon, alongside the full implementation of Resolution 1701 as a comprehensive path toward peace," the statement said.
Under the terms of its truce with Hezbollah, Israeli forces have up to 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, but neither side is permitted to launch offensive operations during this period.
Israeli forces have detained at least 15 Palestinians, including a journalist, across the occupied West Bank since Wednesday evening, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
According to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the detentions took place in the governorates of Jericho, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Tubas, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
According to local authorities, Israeli forces have detained over 12,100 Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem since 7 October.
