The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have jointly warned of a worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen as fighting escalates, according to Al Jazeera.
According to the WFP, about 800,000 people have been cut off from essential food aid after battle lines between Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-backed Houthi group shifted rapidly.
"This is the kind of situation that can quickly turn into a humanitarian catastrophe," said El-Khidir Daloum, the WFP's country director for Yemen.
The most severe crisis is in Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, where an estimated 600,000 people lack access to food aid, including 200,000 women and children, according to the UN agency. Taiz has recently been the focal point of fighting and is under siege by Houthi forces, threatening aid deliveries. The WFP said the loss of access is particularly worrying because Taiz is one of the areas with the highest levels of food insecurity in the country.
Across Yemen, more than 18 million people lack enough food, while the latest monitoring data shows a record 74 percent of households in accessible areas are unable to meet their daily food needs.
Meanwhile, according to an ICRC statement, health facilities are overwhelmed in Marib, Taiz and along the Red Sea coast, which are under heavy pressure from fighting in those areas, with some receiving more than 700 casualties in a single week. Firas Abu Samra, the ICRC's health services coordinator, said only a few functioning facilities in Yemen are capable of providing comprehensive care for the wounded. Frontline hospitals are receiving large numbers of injured people while facing shortages of surgical supplies, anaesthetics, oxygen and medicines, he said.
"The mounting pressure on hospitals can mean fewer beds, fewer supplies and less capacity to treat people with illnesses unrelated to the conflict," said ICRC surgeon Eduardo Toro at Marib General Hospital.
Christine Cipolla, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen, said the country's already weakened health system cannot cope if fighting continues to escalate. "Our concern is that the system may no longer have much capacity to absorb a major surge in casualties," she said.
