WHO Director-General: I did not expect to survive the Israeli raid on Sanaa airport

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday he was not confident he would survive an Israeli airstrike on Sanaa international airport on Thursday during a series of attacks on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group.

Tedros added in statements he made after the ordeal he suffered at Sanaa airport that the explosions that rocked the building were so deafening that there was still a ringing in his ears more than 24 hours later.

Tedros said it quickly became clear that the airport was under attack, describing people as “running in confusion” through the area after about four explosions, one of which was “scarily” close to where he was sitting near the departure lounge.

“I wasn’t really sure if I would survive because it was so close, just a few metres away from us,” he told Reuters. “Any slight deviation could have hit us directly.”

He said he and his colleagues were stuck at the airport for an hour or so as he believed drones were flying low, raising concerns they might open fire again. He said they saw missile fragments among the wreckage.

“There was absolutely no shelter. Nothing. So you were unprotected and expected anything to happen,” he continued.

Speaking by phone from Jordan, where he had flown in on Friday to help evacuate a seriously wounded UN staffer at the airport for further treatment, Tedros said he had received no warning that Israel might be about to strike the airport.

He added that the injured man, who works for the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, is now in stable condition.

Tedros had traveled to Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff detained there and assess the humanitarian situation.

Israel launched extensive raids on Yemen on Thursday evening, targeting Sanaa International Airport and vital sites in Hodeidah, west of the country, leaving 4 dead and 20 wounded, according to what the Houthi militia announced.

The WHO director-general and a UN delegation were preparing to board a plane to leave Sanaa airport at the time after concluding a mission to assess the health and humanitarian situation in Yemen and negotiate the release of two UN workers being held there.

"It was luck, otherwise the missile would have fallen on our heads if it had deviated a little bit... My colleague told me afterwards that we narrowly escaped death," Ghebreyesus said.

Source: Reuters