Speaking to The Associated Press by telephone from Sanaa, Stephen Anderson said it is "heartbreaking" that millions in Yemen depended on sustained access to humanitarian aid. Of a population of 26 million, some 17 million Yemenis do not know where their next meal is coming from and 7 million are totally dependent on food assistance.
Humanitarian flights to the northern parts of Yemen have been grounded amid the blockade imposed by the coalition.
After widespread international criticism of its blockade, Saudi Arabia said last week it would reverse its closure of Yemen's sea ports and airports.
On Sunday night, a coalition airstrike in the northern Yemeni province of Jawf killed 10 civilians, including four women and two children, according to security officials and tribal sources in the area.
More than 12,000 people have been killed since the onset of the campaign. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday that the Saudi blockade had left three cities in Yemen running out of clean water due to a halt in the import of fuel needed for pumping and sanitation, warning of “a renewed cholera outbreak.”
Some 2,100 people have died of cholera since April as hospitals struggle to secure basic supplies across the country. The epidemic had been on the wane for weeks in Yemen, although new cases are still running at around 2,600 per day.
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20 November 2017 - 12:58
News ID: 867966
(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The head of the World Food Program in Yemen said on Monday that millions of Yemenis face the risk of more deaths as aid deliveries cannot get to those in need because of the continuing blockade of the war-ravaged country by the Saudi-led coalition.
