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.

In a post to X yesterday, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he and WHO staff were in Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff who have been captured in the country and were due to leave from the airport in Sana’a this morning.

“As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment,” he said. “One of our plane’s crew members was injured.”

The crew member underwent surgery and was in stable condition, the international body said today. The Israeli military said the Houthi missile was intercepted by its air defences 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.

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.