Yemen is “crumbling” under a deepening humanitarian crisis after months of civil war, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday, and a UN investigator said sieges imposed by combatants were causing starvation.
ICRC President Peter Maurer, ending a three-day visit to the Arabian Peninsula country, called for free access to deliver life-saving food, water and medicines, while urging the warring parties to work toward a negotiated solution, Reuters reported.
“The humanitarian situation is nothing short of catastrophic. Every family in Yemen has been affected by this conflict,” Maurer said in a statement.
More than 4,300 people have been killed and 22,110 injured since March 19, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, citing figures from Yemeni health care facilities.
“Medicines can’t get in so patient care is falling apart. Fuel shortages mean equipment don’t work. This cannot go on. Yemen is crumbling. As a matter of urgency, there must be free movement of goods into and across the country ... Much more needs to be done.”
Nearly 25% of health facilities are not functioning or only partially, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.
Hilal Elver, United Nations special reporter on the right to food, also said 12.9 million people in Yemen lacked basic food supplies and 850,000 children faced acute malnutrition.
