Dozens Killed in Saudi Air Raids on Hodaida

At least 55 people, including women and children, have been killed in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodaida in air raids carried out by a Saudi and UAE alliance battling Houthi forces, their health ministry said.

In a statement issued late on Thursday, the ministry said the attacks, which targeted the city’s Public al-Thawra Hospital and a busy fishing port, wounded at least 124 Yemenis, Al Jazeera reported.

Reuters put the death toll at 28 late on Thursday, while China’s Xinhua said it stood at 70 early on Friday.

Taha al-Mutawakil, the Minister for Public Health and Population in the Houthi-led administration, said local authorities were struggling to cope with the number of casualties, and ambulances were afraid of transporting the wounded to Sanaa or other provinces due to fears of being targeted by air attacks.

The International Red Cross, which supports the al-Thawra hospital, said it sent surgical supplies that will be enough to treat up to 50 patients who are in critical condition.

“What we have seen in Hodaida is a heinous crime,” Mutawakil was quoted by the Houthi-run SABA news agency as saying. He added that US shared responsibility for the deaths.

With logistical support from the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been carrying out attacks inside Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to reinstate the government of Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

At least 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting and more than 100,000 children have died from extreme hunger and starvation.

For the last few weeks, the UN had been trying to broker a deal in a bid to avert the attack, which it fears would further hinder Yemenis’ access to food, fuel and medicine, worsening the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.