Yemen displacement hits 260,000 since August as Taiz faces health crisis

Displacement surges amid renewed fighting

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said late Wednesday that renewed military escalation has forced nearly 260,000 people to flee their homes across Yemen since early August, with nearly half seeking refuge in Taiz governorate amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. The UN Human Rights Office has verified 251 civilian casualties, including 57 people killed and 194 injured, with half of the fatalities being children, according to the humanitarian agency.

"Despite extremely difficult conditions," humanitarian partners have reached more than 174,000 displaced people since August — nearly six in 10 displaced households — providing food, hygiene kits and emergency cash in the first days after they were uprooted, OCHA noted. "Newly displaced families say that their most pressing need is shelter, followed by food and cash," the agency said, adding that it had called on all parties "to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, to respect international humanitarian law, and to allow the safe and sustained passage of humanitarian assistance and essential commercial goods into and across Taiz."

Taiz warns of 'imminent catastrophe'

Local authorities in Taiz warned that premature babies and newborns in hospitals in the provincial capital face an imminent health crisis due to fuel and medicine shortages caused by a Houthi blockade. In a statement, Taiz's Office of Blockade Affairs said an "imminent catastrophe threatens the lives of children and newborns in hospitals in Taiz city due to the blockade imposed on the city by the Houthi terrorist militia," warning that shortages of fuel, medicines and medical supplies needed to operate incubators and provide essential care were threatening life-saving services and exposing young patients to serious risks.

Fighting reignites strategic fronts

Since fighting escalated again on several fronts in July, government forces and their allies have announced that they regained control of the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait and areas in the Dhubab district. The Houthis imposed a tight blockade on Taiz city from the surrounding highlands to the north, west and east following their advances in rural Taiz, while the conflict in Yemen has continued since the group seized the capital, Sanaa, and several provinces in September 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention in March 2015 to support the internationally recognized government.