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.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday he was not sure he was going to survive an air strike on Yemen's main airport carried out by Israel a day earlier during a series of attacks on the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

An Israeli strike on the international airport in Sanaa, Yemen, on Dec. 26, killed at least four people, according to local media. Houthi attacks on Israel have ramped up in recent weeks.