WHO chief recounts narrow escape at Yemen airport hit by Israeli missile

NPR | By Scott Neuman

Published December 28, 2024 at 6:23 PM EST

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus looks on during a press conference with the Association of Accredited Correspondents at the United Nations (ACANU) at the World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva, on December 10, 2024.

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says he and his United Nations colleagues "escaped death narrowly" at Yemen's main airport when Israeli airstrikes targeted the facility.

Speaking with the BBC, Tedros described the scene at the airport during the Thursday attack as "very chaotic."

"People were in disarray and running everywhere," he told Radio 4's Today program on Saturday.

The WHO chief said he and his team were "completely exposed" and that it was "a matter of luck, otherwise if the missile deviated just slightly it could have been on our heads."

Tedros had been waiting to board a flight in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, when the Israeli missile struck. When the airport came under attack, one of the U.N. plane's crew was injured. At least three others at the airport were reported killed.

Video of the airport shows U.N. officials trying to spirit Tedros to safety.

Israel's military said the attack was aimed at infrastructure used by Yemen's Houthi rebels and Iran. Israel said it wasn't aware that the U.N. delegation was at Sanaa airport at the time of the strike.