Around 79,000 children displaced in western Yemen in less than a month: UNICEF

Around 79,000 children have been displaced in western Yemen in less than a month amid escalating fighting between government forces and the Houthis, UNICEF said late Thursday, Anadolu reports.

“Across western Yemen, renewed hostilities and shifting frontlines have deepened an already devastating humanitarian crisis,” the UN children’s agency said in a report.

It said fighting in Taiz and Al Hudaydah provinces, the western coast and surrounding areas have forced families to flee once again, leaving behind their homes, belongings and livelihoods.

“Between 3 September – 30 September, more than 145,000 people have been displaced, including an estimated 79,000 children,” UNICEF said.

The agency warned that the latest escalation comes amid an already severe humanitarian situation in a country where needs are among the highest in the world.

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“More than 12 million children in Yemen require humanitarian assistance,” it said.

UNICEF said some displaced families are staying in overcrowded camps with limited access to clean water, healthcare and other essential services, while many arrived with little more than the clothes they were wearing.

The agency said it continues to support affected communities while calling for safe humanitarian access to children most in need.

On Thursday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg called for an end to fighting in Taiz province and for civilians and civilian infrastructure to be protected.

Yemen has witnessed its broadest military escalation in three weeks between government forces and the Houthis in recent hours.

The developments are part of an escalation that began in July, the most intense since the relative calm that followed an April 2022 truce.

Fighting accelerated in September, leading to Houthi control of several key locations in Al Hudaydah and Taiz provinces, including the strategic city of Mokha, and extending to Mayun Island overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014, before a Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

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