Conditions for civilians in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a are “deteriorating by the hour” after six days of violence, the International Committee for the Red Cross said Monday, as the United Nations called for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting.
Monday saw a dramatic change in the more than two year conflict as former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who until several days ago had been allied with Houthi rebels, was reportedly killed, according to Houthi media. Unverified images and video circulated on social media of what appeared to be Saleh’s body with a severe head wound.
But days of clashes that began before Saleh’s offer, in addition to airstrikes Riyadh said were to aid the former president against the Houthis, have reportedly left civilians trapped in their homes, unable to seek help, move to safer locations or get out to buy food and water. Most aid workers in the city are trapped too and unable to venture out.
The ICRC said in a statement that 125 people had been killed and 238 wounded in the latest round of violence, adding that “the targeting of our main medical warehouse by the fighting is hampering our work.” The ICRC is supporting medical teams in Sana’a’s hospitals.
“The wounded must be afforded safe access to medical care,” he said in a Monday statement.
There have been multiple calls for humanitarian pauses in Yemen’s war, with varying degrees of success. Aid workers said a May 2015 break in the fighting allowed for the distribution of some supplies but was not enough to make a real difference.
More than two years later, with more than 5,350 civilians (and counting) killed in violence, 2,223 Yemenis dead of cholera since April, and warnings of famine, the situation is much worse. The UN says Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe and while a coalition blockade on aid (ostensibly to prevent arms smuggling) has been eased, the majority of commercial ships are still not being allowed into the country’s Red Sea ports.