Houthis fire missile at Israeli airport

• WHO chief was at the Yemen airport during Thursday's Israeli strikes
• Six people were killed in Yemen
• Humanitarian operations in Yemen under threat
   

Yemeni rebels claimed a strike against the airport in Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv yesterday, after Israeli air strikes hit rebel-held Sanaa's international airport and other targets in Yemen.

The Israeli strikes on Thursday landed as the head of the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) said he and his team were preparing to fly out from Yemen's Houthi rebel-held capital.

Hours later yesterday, the Houthis said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport and launched drones at Tel Aviv as well as a ship in the Arabian Sea.

No other details were immediately available.

Yemen's civil aviation authority said the airport planned to reopen yesterday after the strikes that it said occurred while the UN aircraft "was getting ready for its scheduled flight".

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they knew at the time that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was there. Israel's attack came a day after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed the firing of a missile and two drones at Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the "escalation" in hostilities between Israel and the Houthis and called the Sanaa airport strikes "especially alarming".

He said bombing transportation infrastructure posed a threat to humanitarian operations in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population is dependent on aid.

Tedros was in Yemen to seek the release of UN staff detained for months by the Houthis, and to assess the humanitarian situation.

He said he and other UN staff were about to board their flight when "the airport came under aerial bombardment".

Yemen's Houthis have stepped up their attacks against Israel since late November when a ceasefire took effect between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The Houthis Al-Masirah TV said the Israeli strikes killed six people, after earlier Houthi statements said two people died at the rebel-held capital's airport, and another at Ras Issa port.

The strikes targeting the airport, military facilities and power stations in rebel areas marked the second time since December 19 that Israel has hit targets in Yemen after rebel missile fire towards Israel.

In his latest warning to the rebels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would "continue until the job is done".

"We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil," he said in a video statement.