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.

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.

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.