140,000 Displaced in Taiz: Arab League Warns of Aid Disaster
(MENAFN) Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy issued an urgent warning Thursday that continued blockage of vital supplies into Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province risks a humanitarian catastrophe, and he demanded that the Houthis immediately lift restrictions on aid deliveries.
In a statement posted on the league’s website, Fahmy voiced “deep concern over the deterioration of health conditions” in Taiz, where he said hospitals are grappling with “acute shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicines and medical supplies.”
The shortfalls threaten to halt essential services, including incubators that keep premature and newborn babies alive, he cautioned.
Fahmy said the ongoing obstruction “directly endangers the lives of children and patients,” and stressed that denying civilians medical care and humanitarian assistance is unacceptable.
“Saving lives cannot be delayed or subjected to any political or military calculations,” Fahmy said, placing responsibility for the humanitarian fallout of the restrictions on the Houthis.
He demanded safe passage for patients and medical staff, investigations into violations, and accountability for “anyone found responsible for obstructing humanitarian aid or terrorizing civilians.”
Fahmy also pressed humanitarian organizations and other relevant parties to move quickly to meet hospitals’ needs for fuel, oxygen and medicines, and to guarantee that deliveries arrive safely, continuously and without interference.
The appeal followed a Wednesday warning from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that conditions in Taiz city are worsening as disrupted supply routes and mounting strain on essential services take their toll.
OCHA said roads into the city from areas held by Yemen’s internationally recognized government remain severed or shut because of fighting, blocking both life-saving aid and commercial goods.
According to the UN office, Taiz now shelters about 140,000 people displaced since early August. That is more than 40% of the roughly 330,000 people uprooted across Yemen over the same period.
The escalation forms part of a wider military surge that began in July, regarded as the most extensive since the relative calm that followed a truce starting in April 2022.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and other provinces in September 2014, sparking a civil war. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 to back the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
In a statement posted on the league’s website, Fahmy voiced “deep concern over the deterioration of health conditions” in Taiz, where he said hospitals are grappling with “acute shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicines and medical supplies.”
The shortfalls threaten to halt essential services, including incubators that keep premature and newborn babies alive, he cautioned.
Fahmy said the ongoing obstruction “directly endangers the lives of children and patients,” and stressed that denying civilians medical care and humanitarian assistance is unacceptable.
“Saving lives cannot be delayed or subjected to any political or military calculations,” Fahmy said, placing responsibility for the humanitarian fallout of the restrictions on the Houthis.
He demanded safe passage for patients and medical staff, investigations into violations, and accountability for “anyone found responsible for obstructing humanitarian aid or terrorizing civilians.”
Fahmy also pressed humanitarian organizations and other relevant parties to move quickly to meet hospitals’ needs for fuel, oxygen and medicines, and to guarantee that deliveries arrive safely, continuously and without interference.
The appeal followed a Wednesday warning from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that conditions in Taiz city are worsening as disrupted supply routes and mounting strain on essential services take their toll.
OCHA said roads into the city from areas held by Yemen’s internationally recognized government remain severed or shut because of fighting, blocking both life-saving aid and commercial goods.
According to the UN office, Taiz now shelters about 140,000 people displaced since early August. That is more than 40% of the roughly 330,000 people uprooted across Yemen over the same period.
The escalation forms part of a wider military surge that began in July, regarded as the most extensive since the relative calm that followed a truce starting in April 2022.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and other provinces in September 2014, sparking a civil war. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 to back the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
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