The UN reported on 6 November that fighting has displaced more than 323,000 people across Yemen since August. In Taiz, about 40% of hospitals have closed and those still open are working at 50% capacity because of fuel shortages, the deputy governor for health says.
More than 323,000 people have been displaced across Yemen since fighting escalated in August, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on 6 November. More than two in five displaced people are in Taiz governorate, where a Houthi blockade has cut off supplies to about 800,000 people.
The Houthis, an Iran-aligned rebel group also known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since September 2014. They captured the Red Sea port of Mocha in September. They surrounded Taiz in early October, said Thomas Bonnie James, an assistant professor of politics and international relations at Aberdeen University.
Taiz’s deputy governor for health affairs, Ilan Abdul Haw, told Al Jazeera that about 40% of hospitals had closed and those still open were operating at 50% capacity because of the fuel shortage.
The outlet found that the city’s remaining diesel stocks would last less than 48 hours. Hospitals warned that if fuel runs out, more departments and medical centers, including emergency services, will have to close.
Salah Ahmed Ghaleb al-Majidi, acting director of the governorate’s Siege Affairs Department, described conditions as catastrophic. The blockade is preventing medical supplies, food, fuel and water from reaching the governorate.
Across Yemen, the UN Human Rights Office has recorded 69 civilians killed and 212 injured since August. Children accounted for more than one-third of those killed or injured.
On 5 October, Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, launched Operation Dawn of Yemen to retake Houthi-controlled territory, including Sanaa. Government ground forces have fought with air support from a Saudi-led coalition.
The council says the government will continue its campaign to dismantle Houthi military capacity and restore sovereignty. James warned that conditions for people in Taiz would worsen as winter approaches and the siege tightens, citing shortages of aid funding and continued fighting.
The embassy said the sailors were healthy and heading back to India after nearly two weeks stranded in Hodeidah and Sanaa.
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