More Than 800,000 People Cut Off From Aid in Yemen's Taiz
More Than 800,000 People Cut Off From Aid in Yemen's Taiz
More than 800,000 people have been cut off from aid since Houthi forces encircled Taiz city in early October, according to the United Nations, as reported by Al Jazeera. Taiz is Yemen's third-largest city, and the encirclement has cut the road linking it to Aden.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN body that coordinates emergency relief, said Taiz had been cut off for 20 days and counting. The UN World Food Programme says about three-quarters of the people cut off from aid in the city depend on humanitarian assistance. At least 200,000 of them are women and children.
Daily life has grown harder. The cost of water brought in by truck has tripled, and cooking gas is largely unavailable, which threatens community kitchens. Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO), said 42 health facilities in Taiz face acute shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicine and supplies.
Children are among the most exposed. UN screenings found more than 52,000 children in Taiz with acute malnutrition, meaning their bodies lack enough food to grow and stay healthy, and about 11,500 of them have severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous form.
Fighting continues in the province. Clashes have been reported in the Jabal Han highlands and in the Dhubab and al-Masrakh districts. The UN says the recent escalation in Yemen has displaced nearly 260,000 people, most of them in Taiz and Lahij provinces.
The crisis unfolds against a longer conflict. In early October, the head of Yemen's Presidential Council, the body that leads the government side, announced military operations to retake territory. Reuters reported that Ali Hassan and his family took shelter under a stairwell at a school in Taiz as Houthi forces closed in around them.
Across Yemen, the UN says 18.3 million people are acutely food insecure, meaning they lack reliable access to enough food. More than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, and an additional 1.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to be malnourished. Some 14.4 million people need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance. Only 59.3 per cent of health facilities are fully functional, and complete vaccination coverage stands at 63 per cent.
The UN and its partners say they need US$2.16 billion to reach 12 million people in Yemen in 2026, and 9.4 million people have been prioritised for targeted assistance based on the severity of their needs. The European Commission has announced an additional 22.5 million euros ($25.2m) for Yemen, on top of 87.5 million euros ($97.9m) previously allocated for 2026.
