Israeli air strikes hit rebel-held Sanaa's international airport and other targets in Yemen on Thursday as the head of the UN's World Health Organization said he and his team prepared to fly out.Yemen's civil aviation authority said the airport planned to reopen on Friday after the strikes that it said occurred while the UN aircraft "was getting ready for its scheduled flight".

Israeli forces unleashed a series of strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the western city of Hodeidah on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, the Iran-backed Houthis said in a statement where it vowed to retaliate.

Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says he was close to the departure lounge when it was hit.