The Ministries of Transport and Public Works, and Justice and Human Rights hold a press conference on the Israeli attack on Sana’a Airport

The Ministries of Transport and Public Works and Justice and Human Rights held a press conference today at Sana’a International Airport regarding the Israeli attack on Sana’a Airport and the targeting of a Yemenia Airlines civilian aircraft transporting pilgrims and patients.

At the press conference, Ali Tasir, head of the Human Rights Sector at the Ministry of Justice, emphasized that targeting civilian airports and aircraft carrying civilians, including patients and pilgrims, constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and is classified as an international crime that must be prosecuted and punished by international courts.

He said, “The Israeli enemy is committing war crimes and genocide against the Yemeni people amid shameful international and Arab silence, led by the United Nations, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has not even issued a condemnation of the crime.”

He explained that the Yemeni plane that was targeted was the only one operating to transport passengers from Sana’a International Airport, the majority of whom were critically ill patients and pilgrims heading to the Holy Land. Its targeting prevented hundreds of people from performing the Hajj pilgrimage and exacerbated the humanitarian situation.

For his part, the Director General of Sana’a International Airport, Khaled Al-Shayef, confirmed that the raids launched by the Israeli enemy’s air force on the airport were deliberate and systematic, with the aim of completely paralyzing air traffic and isolating the Yemeni people from the world.

He said, “The first raid occurred near the runway, followed by three raids targeting the flight deck and the rear of the aircraft, before the aircraft was directly bombed with several raids, resulting in its complete destruction.”

He explained that the Yemenia plane had arrived yesterday morning from the Jordanian capital, Amman, carrying 150 passengers. It was scheduled to transport approximately 300 pilgrims to the Holy Land on the same day, as part of two scheduled flights.

He noted that the airport administration implemented an emergency plan following the first raid and was able to evacuate the passengers, including pilgrims and arrivals from the arrival and departure halls, and rescue the crew and ground handling personnel, who numbered approximately 50 employees who were on board or in the vicinity of the plane, in addition to more than 300 passengers who were at the airport.

Al-Shaif confirmed that “the Israeli aggression destroyed the eighth plane in a series of previous attacks that included seven Yemenia aircraft, including five Yemenia aircraft, a presidential plane, a government Yushin cargo plane, and a plane belonging to Al-Saeeda Airlines.” He stated that the number of Yemeni pilgrims who departed via Sana’a Airport reached 1,200 pilgrims, while approximately 800 others were waiting to depart before being denied travel as a result of this criminal attack.

The director of Sana’a Airport said, “Targeting the only remaining civilian aircraft, which represented a lifeline for patients and travelers, will exacerbate the suffering of Yemenis, especially those with chronic diseases who rely entirely on these flights to travel abroad for treatment.”

A statement issued at the press conference condemned in the strongest terms the Zionist entity’s deliberate targeting of Sana’a Airport yesterday morning, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, with several airstrikes as a group of Yemeni pilgrims, including women, were preparing to board a Yemenia Airlines plane.

This spread panic among dozens of passengers at Sana’a Airport and the crew of the civilian aircraft. The statement indicated that the Zionist aggression deliberately targeted the civilian aircraft, resulting in its complete burning and destruction.

The Ministries of Transport and Public Works and Justice and Human Rights confirmed that the destruction of the Yemenia Airlines civilian aircraft was the sixth since the last attack on the airport.

The statement indicated that the Zionist entity’s destruction of the infrastructure of Sana’a Airport and the burning of the Yemeni plane constitutes a serious transgression and a grave violation of all the rules and principles of international law, specifically international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict), the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, the 1971-2014 Montreal Convention, and other relevant international agreements, all of which criminalize any act of sabotage that affects the safety of civil aviation, and consider attacks on airports or acts that endanger civilians working there to be international crimes that require the prosecution and punishment of their perpetrators.

He stated, “The Republic of Yemen holds the United Nations, the Security Council, and its international organizations related to civil aviation, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), fully responsible for the arrogance of the Zionist entity and its continued gross violation of all rules and principles of international humanitarian law, as well as its criminal persistence in systematically targeting civilian objects, which constitutes a violation of the UN Charter and humanitarian laws.”

The statement called on the United Nations, its bodies, and organizations to take a clear and unequivocal position, condemn this crime, which is reprehensible to the honorable people of the world, and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes in the International Criminal Court, ensuring they do not escape just punishment.

It emphasized that the continued impunity of the Israeli entity gives this criminal entity the green light to continue and encourages it to commit further crimes against civilians and civilian objects, undermines international law, and threatens international peace and security.

It affirmed Yemen’s inherent right to defend itself and its people, protect its territories from any external violation that undermines its sovereignty, and support the Palestinian people and stand with all its capabilities against the crime of genocide. And the forced displacement of our brothers in occupied Palestine.