Council tells the Israeli ambassador that it “condemns all the air raids which have killed Yemeni civilians and also Houthi attacks.” Israel has laid out its case before the UN Security Council for a full onslaught against Houthi forces in Yemen, claiming the Iranian-backed group now represents a well-armed terrorist army that threatens not just the regional economy but the entire global order.
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sadar, also urged the Houthis to be declared a foreign terrorist organization, which would make it harder for Iran to provide material support without further economic sanctions.
Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon – who had requested to convene an urgent meeting in the UN Security Council on Friday regarding the last wave of the intensification in attacks from Houthis towards Israel – termed them nothing more than a constituent of Iran’s war against peace.
The group, he said, had an annual budget of $1.2bn (£0.95bn) and came dangerously close to strangling the Suez Canal by its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.
He added that “millions of Israelis are waking up every night to the sound of sirens across the country”, accusing the Houthis of launching 300 attacks on Israel this year.
He said: “Let me clarify one thing; we have had enough. Israel will not stand by and wait for the world to react. We will defend our citizens.” He said the Houthis were no longer a regional threat but a threat to the world order.
Palestinians fill containers with clean water, surrounded by damaged buildings and rubble.
Israel orders the remaining residents of Beit Hanoun to leave
While almost all security council members at Monday’s meeting condemned the Houthi attacks on Israel mounted a week ago, many also condemned the Israeli threat to Yemeni civilians represented by the air raids on key power stations, the air traffic control tower at the airport in the capital of Sana’a, and ports which are critical to the delivery of aid. Nine Yemeni civilians were killed in the attacks, which Israel said was in retaliation for what Danon described as “a relentless Houthi bombardment of Israeli population centres”.
The UK envoy to the UN, Barbara Woodward, reiterated Israel’s right to self-defence but warned: “Israel’s action must be consistent with their obligations under international law including protection of civilians.”
She said she was “concerned by the attack on Sana’a airport that endangered Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus”. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) was at Sana’a airport when Israeli warplanes struck on Thursday. A crew member from Tedros’s plane was injured in the strike, and Tedros said he and his colleagues “escaped death narrowly”.
“Humanitarian aid workers must be able to carry out their important work safely and securely,” Woodward said, adding that the director general had been in Yemen to seek the release of a group of UN staff held hostage by the Houthis.
