The head of the World Health Organisation has said he only narrowly escaped death in fatal Israeli strikes on the airport in Yemen’s Houthi capital, AFP reports.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told BBC radio his ears were still ringing following the attack as he prepared to board a flight in Sanaa, and stressed that the protection for civilian installations under international law must be respected.

“We heard a heavy explosion nearby, and then I think repeated,” Tedros said.

“The sound was so, so loud … So deafening, actually. Still my ear rings. It’s already more than 24 hours now. I don’t know if it affected my ear. The explosion was so heavy.”

“It’s a matter of luck. Otherwise, if the missile deviated just slightly, it could have been on our heads … my colleague actually said after all that, we escaped death narrowly.”