Renewed Yemen fighting displaces more than 57,000 children in 2 weeks: UNICEF

Renewed hostilities in Yemen have displaced more than 57,000 children in just two weeks, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis, UNICEF said in a report late Wednesday.

More than 104,000 people have been displaced since Sept. 3, including over 57,000 children, as fighting has escalated across western Taiz, southern Al-Hudaydah, Marib, and other areas, according to the UN children’s agency.

UNICEF said at least nine children have been reported killed and 12 injured since the escalation began, while three other children were reported missing following an attack on the road linking Yemen’s western coast to Aden.

The renewed fighting has also disrupted access to essential services, with 26 UNICEF-supported health facilities reporting service disruptions and 243 schools either closed or suspending classes, affecting more than 137,000 students.

“Children in Yemen were already living through one of the world’s most grave humanitarian crises,” UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder said.

“Now, tens of thousands of families have been forced from their homes in just two weeks,” he added, warning that the latest violence was “eroding what little stability” children had left after years of conflict, hunger, displacement, and disrupted education.

UNICEF said it was expanding its emergency response to reach up to 231,000 people affected by the escalation.

The agency said it was supporting health facilities, distributing hygiene kits and water tanks in Taiz, providing additional water and hygiene supplies in Marib, and redeploying nine health and nutrition mobile teams to displacement sites and affected communities in Aden, Marib, and Taiz.

Emergency water and sanitation assistance is expected to reach more than 200,000 people with safe water, hygiene supplies, and urgent repairs to damaged systems.

The impact of the escalation has also reached across the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, with more than 2,000 people, including many children, arriving in Djibouti after dangerous crossings marked by extreme heat, dehydration, and protection risks, UNICEF said.

Even before the latest escalation, about 12.2 million children in Yemen were in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UNICEF.

More than 2.2 million children under 5 are acutely malnourished, including more than 515,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition, while 3.2 million school-aged children are out of school.

Around 17.8 million people lack adequate access to health care, water, and sanitation services, with only 60% of health facilities fully operational, the agency said.

UNICEF reiterated the UN secretary-general’s call for all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, including children, comply with international humanitarian law and facilitate safe and unhindered humanitarian access.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.