Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was in Sanaa airport waiting to board a flight when it came under Israeli bombardment.

Israeli fighter jets launched a series of missile strikes on Yemen Thursday, including several that hit Sanaa International Airport near where World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was preparing to board a flight.

Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.

The head of the World Health Organization said he was about to board a flight in the Yemeni capital when the airport came under bombardment.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a plane at the Sanaa International Airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels said new air raids hit the country's north on Saturday, shortly after they claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel.

Israel carried out attacks on targets in Yemen on Thursday, including an airport where the head of the World Health Organization was at the time of the deadly strike on the facility. NBC’s Raf Sanchez reports for TODAY.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s main airport as a civilian Airbus 320 with hundreds of passengers on board was landing and a U.N. delegation was waiting to leave, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official in Yemen said Friday.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says it quickly became apparent the airport was under attack, with strikes "alarmingly" close to where he was sitting near the departure lounge.

Yemen: World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared his horrific experience of a terrifying airstrike that hit Yemen’s main airport, while he was present inside the airport.

The head of the World Health Organization said he narrowly escaped death in fatal Israeli strikes on the airport in Houthi rebel-held Sanaa.