Symbolic imageFighting in Yemen cuts food aid to an estimated 800,000 people
Fighting in Yemen is overwhelming hospitals and cutting food aid, relief agencies warn, as Houthi forces press toward Taiz.
The World Food Programme said on Wednesday, 14 October, that shifting front lines between Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthis have cut an estimated 800,000 people off from food assistance. In Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, about 600,000 have no access, including 200,000 women and children. Houthi forces hem in the city, imperiling deliveries, and Handelsblatt reports they are advancing on it. More than 18 million people across Yemen do not have enough to eat.
Hospitals near breaking point
The ICRC says facilities in Marib, Taiz and along the Red Sea coast are overwhelmed, some receiving more than 700 cases in a single week. Health services coordinator Firas Abu Samra says front-line hospitals are short of surgical supplies, anaesthetics, oxygen and medicines.
Taiz cut off
The National reports that all roads in and out have been blocked for three days and that the UN warns wheat and flour could run out in under three weeks. UNFPA coordinator Saeed Saif says food prices have risen by more than 50 per cent since the escalation, and the UN has pulled staff from the province.