Yemen escalation kills nearly 1,700, injures over 7,000 since August: UN agency

Nearly 1,700 people have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in Yemen since August amid a military escalation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday, Anadolu reports.

In a report, the agency recorded 1,677 deaths and 7,395 injuries during the period, including 559 casualties between Oct. 20 and 25 alone, averaging about 93 casualties a day.

Fighting continued during the reporting period in the governorates of Taiz, Lahj, and Marib, while lower casualty figures were recorded in Aden, Al-Dhalea, and Shabwa, according to the report.

The WHO said it delivered 56 trauma and emergency kits to the city of Taiz on Oct. 24, including 46 kits for trauma care and 10 for emergency health services.

The delivery also included around 30 metric tons of medical supplies for three hospitals and one health center.

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The agency warned that only six of 31 mobile medical teams remained operational in Marib, leaving residents struggling to access health services amid damage to health facilities and shortages of supplies.

Al-Thawra General Hospital in Taiz city came under fire on Oct. 20, leaving three soldiers and one patient injured, according to the WHO.

The agency warned that continued disruption to essential services and shortages of medicines, fuel, and water, along with inadequate waste management, were increasing the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, particularly in Taiz.

Taiz, Yemen’s most populous province, remains divided between government forces and the Houthis. Government forces control Taiz city, the provincial capital, and other parts of the province.

Since July, military escalation between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis has resumed, particularly in Taiz and Lahj, killing and injuring thousands, according to UN reports.

Yemen has been at war since the Houthis divided the capital Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

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