Israel launches new airstrikes in Yemen, killing 3, Houthi media say

Israel struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said three people were killed.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said in a statement.

"The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few metres from where we were — and the runway were damaged," he said in a post on X, adding that he and his WHO colleagues were safe.

"We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave," he said, without mentioning the source of the bombardment.

Israel's army later told The Associated Press it wasn't aware that the WHO chief or delegation were at the location in Yemen.

Targeted ports important for getting aid into Yemen

The Israeli strikes followed several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports at Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib along with power stations, asserting they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials.

Israel's military said it had "capabilities to strike very far from Israel's territory — precisely, powerfully and repetitively."

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said two people were killed in the strikes on the airport and one person was killed in the port hits, while 11 others were wounded in the attacks. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

The UN has said the targeted ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that has been engulfed in a civil war since 2014.

There was no comment from the Houthis, who have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad's regime and others learned."

Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv. Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks.

The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli strike kills 5 journalists IDF says were militants

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, according to the territory's Health Ministry. The Israeli military said all five were militants posing as reporters.

The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists were working for the local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas, and took part in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel.

The Israeli military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said that intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.

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

Footage from The Associated Press showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings visible on the back doors. Sobbing young men attended the funeral outside the hospital. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds. 

Israel has regularly denied targeting journalists and says its take steps to avoid hitting civilians.

Israel, Hamas trade blame over delayed ceasefire

On Wednesday, Hamas and Israel traded blame over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days.

Hamas said Israel had laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on understandings already reached.

"The occupation has set new conditions related to withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners and the return of the displaced, which has delayed reaching the agreement that was available," Hamas said.

Netanyahu responded in a statement: "The Hamas terrorist organization continues to lie, is reneging on understandings that have already been reached, and is continuing to create difficulties in the negotiations."

Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

The war was triggered by Hamas's attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.