The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, was at the airport in Sanaa when it was struck by Israel.
Tedros says he was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and assess the humanitarian situation in the country.
"As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment.
"One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport.
"The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged."
Tedros says his team will need to wait for the "damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave".
"My UN and WHO colleagues and I are safe," he adds.
"Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack."
In June, the UN confirmed that 13 staff members were detained by the Houthis in Yemen.
The employees were taken in various parts of the country, in what appears to have been a co-ordinated crackdown.
The detentions came as the Houthis faced increasing economic difficulties and air strikes carried out by a US-led coalition.
The Houthis have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, triggering retaliatory air strikes by the US and its allies.
Before those comments from Tedros, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his first public remarks about the strikes on Yemen.
"We will continue to cut off the terror arm of the Iranian axis of evil until we complete the job," he said, speaking from an air force base.
Defence Minister Israel Katz, who was also there, said: "We will hunt down all the Houthi leaders - no one will be able to evade Israel's long arm."
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam has described today's strikes as "a Zionist crime against all the Yemeni people", AFP reports.
Israel's strikes came after several attacks by the Houthis, including one in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
