- The UN have described Yemen are the "world’s worst humanitarian crisis"
- Over 10,000 people have been killed in the past 18 months
- At least 1,200 children have been killed and another 1,700 have been injured, most by Saudi airstrikes using US and UK aircraft and bombs
- 21.2 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance, 9.9 million of whom are children. This is four fifths of the entire population
- 3 million are now suffering from acute malnutrition
- 500,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition
- A child dies every 10 minutes from malnutrition or disease
- Save the Children estimated that 50,000 children died of hunger and disease last year
- A million are suffering from cholera. A Saudi fuel blockade prevented water and sanitation systems from functioning in many towns. Millions are without adequate sanitation. Raw sewage has been flowing in the streets
- 3.2 million are internally displaced
- 19.3 million in need of health care and protection services
- 14.1 million are at risk of hunger, equivalent to the combined populations of London, Birmingham and Glasgow
- An estimated 14.8 million people lack access to basic healthcare, including 8.8 million living in severely under-served areas
- Medical materials are in chronically short supply, and only 45 per cent of health facilities are functioning
- According to the UN, Saudi airstrikes are the leading cause of conflict related civilian deaths. Airstrikes have targeted homes, weddings, fishing boats and also civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, farms, schools, water infrastructure, markets and the main aid lifeline port of Hodeidah
- Saudi bombing and restrictions to port access has restricted food and fuel imports to 20-30% of their pre-war levels
- Saudi airstrikes on civilians have intensified in recent months. According to the Red Cross, 51 people were killed, including 40 children, with 79 wounded when a bus was hit by a Saudi airstrike in a Northern Yemen town on the 9th August 2018
Current Crisis: Saudi/UAE Attack on Hodaydah the Aid Lifeline Port
- The Saudi led coalition are attacking the key port city Hodaydah. 90% of all humanitarian aid and commercial food and fuel supplies pass through the Port
- Over 300,000 have been displaced as a result of the attack
- The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator Lise Grande has said “We are gravely concerned that in the absence of aid and commercial imports in case of an attack on the port for any length of time, parts of the population could experience famine. As many as 250,000 people may lose everything— even their lives, if there is a military attack on Hodeidah Port”
- The Coalition have taken the Airport and are attacking the outskirts of the attack the city, with its population of 600,000
- Houthi forces are embedded in the city. Any attack further attacks would result in massive civilian loss of life and cut off the only substantial aid lifeline for Yemen’s 22 million dependent on aid
- Airstrikes, on the 2nd August 18, close to Hodaydah’s main hospital and a fish market killed 55 and wounded 170. “For weeks, we’ve been doing everything possible to help hundreds of thousands of people living in and near Hudaydah,” Lise Grande, said in a statement. “These airstrikes are putting innocent civilians at extreme risk"
- The UN have said that Hudaydah is “just one airstrike away from an unstoppable epidemic” after Saudi airstrikes hit and damaged a sanitation facility and water station that “supplies the majority of the water to the whole city”
