FORCES of the Houthi-led Yemeni government fired a missile towards Israel early today, hours after Israel carried out a wave of air strikes on Yemen’s main airport.

The Israeli military claimed the Yemeni missile was intercepted by its air defences before it entered Israeli territory. Air raid sirens were set off in several areas in central Israel.

A day earlier, a wave of Israeli air strikes hit Yemen’s main airport outside the capital Sanaa, killing three people and wounding dozens of others, according to the United Nations.

The strikes hit just as World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a flight at the airport. 

Posting on the X social media platform, he said: “The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few yards from where we were — and the runway were damaged.”

Dr Ghebreyesus added that a crew member had been injured but that he and UN 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. 

UN spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later said the injured person was with the UN Humanitarian Air Service.

At least three people were later reported killed and dozens injured in the airport strike. 

The UN team members left the airport and were “safe and sound” in Sanaa while the injured crew member was being treated at a hospital, she said.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres condemned the escalation in attacks between Yemen and Israel and described Thursday's strikes as “especially alarming,” Ms Tremblay said.

Israel's army later told reporters it wasn't aware that the WHO chief or delegation was at the location in Yemen.

In a statement, the military said it had attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports in 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.

Yemeni satellite television channel al-Masirah reported multiple deaths and showed broken windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained floor and vehicle. 

The US military has also targeted Yemen in recent months in response to attacks on Israeli, US and British shipping in the Red Sea corridor carried out by the Houthis in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.