The grab taken from footage released by Yemen's Al-Masirah TV station shows CCTV images of the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) being escorted to safety at Sana’a International Airport during an Israeli airstrike on December 26, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Geneva, January 2 (RHC)-- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO), says he has been suffering from tinnitus (ringing in the ears) since he and his team were caught up in Israel’s December 26th airstrike on the Sana’a airport.

Israel bombed the airport in the Yemeni capital as the WHO director-general and his team were about to board their flight after talks in the city.  The team was visiting Yemen on behalf of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as part of a mission to assess the health and humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.

Only a few meters from where Tedros and his team were waiting, the airport's air traffic control tower and departure lounge were hit and damaged in the attack.

“I am okay, but I have developed tinnitus (ringing in my ears) from the loud explosion. I hope it will be temporary,” Tedros wrote on his X account on Wednesday.  “Although I am safe, I cannot stop thinking about my colleagues who remain in Yemen and elsewhere, serving people in challenging conditions.”

“Their lives are on the line every moment of every day. Our world needs peace. War only brings death, destruction, displacement, and deprivation.”

The United Nations chief, Guterres, denounced the “especially alarming” Israeli attack on the airport.  Israeli authorities must have been fully aware of the flight scheduled to transport the UN delegation.

Tedros said at the time, “Our flights and so on are internationally known. So I would assume that the people, who like to know, know.”

“We knew this mission would be risky,” and “while the negotiations … were constructive, they were often disrupted, postponed, or even canceled due to drones flying overhead.”

[ SOURCE:  PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]