The Israeli military said airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday were aimed at Houthi rebel-held the capital city of Sana’a and the port city of Hodeida. The director-general of the World Health Organization said the bombing occurred as he was about to board a flight to Sana’a, injuring a crew member. The Israeli military later told The Associated Press that it did not know the WHO chief was at the location.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from WHO he said on Xadding that he and his colleagues are safe. “We will have to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave.” He did not mention the source of the bombing.

Tedros said at least two people were killed in the attack at the airport. According to BBC Newsvideo from inside the airport shows panicked people running out of the terminal.

The latest attacks came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis will also learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and the Assad regime and others have learned.” Netanyahu was monitoring the new strikes along with military leaders, his government said.

The Israel Defense Forces said the targets included “military infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime for its military activities at Sana’a International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power plants,” as well as other military infrastructure at several ports.

The Iran-backed Houthi media outlet confirmed the attacks in a post on Telegram, but did not provide immediate details. Houthi media reported that three people were killed in the attacks and 14 were injured.

The US military has also been targeting the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

The United Nations has noted that ports are important gateways for humanitarian aid. According to BBC News, Tedros was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and assess the humanitarian situation.

Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv. Last week, Israeli jets targeted Sana’a and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis have also targeted ships in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli attack in front of a hospital in Gaza

Meanwhile, an Israeli attack killed five Palestinians outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the territory’s health ministry said. Gaza officials said they were journalists working for a local news outlet. The Israeli military said they were militants posing as journalists.

The strike hit a car in front of Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The Palestinian Journalists’ Union said the victims worked for the local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group. Reuters reported.

Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas and was involved in the October 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. The Israeli military identified the four men as militant propagandists and said intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups run political, media and charity operations in addition to their armed wings.

Footage from the Associated Press showed the van’s burned shell, with press markings visible on the back door. Weeping young men attended the funeral in front of the hospital. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, and blue journalist vests were draped over them.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the war began. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters into Gaza except on military transports.

Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza-based reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties in Israeli military operations.

Separately, Israel’s military said a 35-year-old reservist was killed during fighting in central Gaza on Thursday morning. Since the beginning of the ground operation more than a year ago, a total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in an attack on nearby military bases, farming communities and a music festival. They killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. There are still about 100 hostages in Gaza, and it is believed that at least a third are dead.

Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health. The offensive caused widespread destruction and drove about 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands were crammed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.

Also on Thursday, people mourned eight Palestinians killed in Israeli military operations in and around the town of Tulkarem in the occupied country West coast on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel’s military said soldiers opened fire after militants attacked soldiers and said it was aware of uninvolved civilians who were injured in the attack.