Yemen’s humanitarian crisis has sharply deteriorated amid renewed fighting that has displaced more than 200,000 people since early August, a senior United Nations official warned, calling for urgent international action to prevent further suffering.
Mohamed Yahya, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, delivered the warning on Friday during a UN Security Council briefing on behalf of humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher.
“Today, I must warn the Council that Yemen’s humanitarian crisis has sharply worsened. Further inaction will cost lives,” Yahya said.
He said escalating hostilities over the past two months had forced families already worn down by more than a decade of conflict to flee their homes, often after exhausting their savings and losing their livelihoods.
The latest displacement represents the highest number of newly displaced people since the 2022 truce, according to Yahya.
Nearly 4,000 others have crossed the Bab al Mandab Strait to seek safety in Djibouti and Somalia.
Civilian casualties mount as health services come under pressure
Women and children were bearing the heaviest burden as violence intensified, Yahya warned, citing figures from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights showing that at least 46 civilians had been killed and more than 130 injured since early August.
The influx of conflict-related casualties is pushing Yemen’s already overstretched health system closer to collapse, he said, warning that inadequate funding and resources would deepen the emergency, hinder recovery and leave vulnerable families less able to withstand future shocks.
Yahya stressed that a political solution was essential to preventing further suffering, cautioning that continued fighting would displace more people and further restrict humanitarian access.
“The people of Yemen need more than our concern and our outrage. They need our collective action, our concrete support, and our unwavering commitment to deliver,” he said.
Children face growing threats to safety and education
Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children International, told the Security Council that the escalation was threatening children’s safety, education and well-being.
For many children, she said, schools and education had increasingly become a refuge from danger rather than a pathway to opportunity.
“Yemen is a country of tremendous vibrance and hope. This latest escalation risks reversing its fragile recovery,” Ashing said.
She warned that the country faced a “deadly convergence” of conflict, displacement, economic decline and a rise in infectious and waterborne diseases.
Children were also at “disproportionate risk” from explosive weapons, she said, urging urgent action to prevent further harm.
“Without urgent action, more children will be pushed deeper into hardship, with lasting consequences for their survival, learning, and protection,” Ashing said.
