Most Yemenis Need Urgent Humanitarian Aid: UN
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Over 80 percent of Yemen’s population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance amid the ongoing Saudi aggression against their war-torn country, the United Nations said.
“Aid organizations released new figures on Friday which show significant increases in humanitarian needs in Yemen since the escalation of the conflict,” Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on Friday.
It is estimated that 20.4 million people in Yemen, some 80 percent of the country’s population, require emergency humanitarian aid to access safe drinking water and sanitation, according to the UN official.
“Over 1 million people have been internally displaced and need emergency shelter and essential household items,” said Dujarric, adding, “1.4 million people are in need of protection assistance, including 7.3 million children.”
At least 12.3 million people, nearly half the population, are food insecure, added the UN spokesman, stressing that 15.2 million people require assistance to obtain basic healthcare while 1.5 million women and children also need nutrition services.
According to the UN, at least 2,300 people have been killed and over 7,330 injured in Yemen’s conflict since March 19. The United Nations has repeatedly stressed that the actual toll could be higher, as many of those killed and injured do not pass through the health authorities.
This is while some Yemeni sources have put the death toll at nearly 4,300, Press TV reported.
In an interview with RT on June 10, Cedric Schweize, who heads the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warned of a worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen, saying 26 million civilians are at risk in the impoverished country, which has been under Saudi airstrikes since March 26.
On Friday, a coalition of 13 humanitarian aid organizations called on the international community to support an urgent and permanent ceasefire to save the lives of millions of Yemenis.
