The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed deep concerns over the dire food security situation in Yemen's city of Taiz which the Houthi militants have been shelling and imposing a siege around for months.
In a press release on Friday, the WFP said the lack of humanitarian access has left tens of thousands of people in the city without food assistance for more than a month.
Food assistance last reached Taiz more than five weeks ago through WFP’s local partner, it said.
“We plead for safe and immediate access to the city of Taiz to prevent a humanitarian tragedy as supplies dwindle, threatening the lives of thousands – including women, children and the elderly,” said Muhannad Hadi, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“These people have already suffered extreme hunger, and if this situation continues the damage from hunger will be irreversible.”
The Houthi blockade has been preventing all commodities from entering the city.
Lately, locals said they are facing an acute shortage of drinking water coinciding with reports about lacks of medicines amid raging battles between the pro-government forces and the Houthi militants.
The blockade around the most densely populated city adds to challenges faced in the country in general mostly because of a blockade on its sea, land and air ports.
The blockade on Yemen was part of the Saudi-led military intervention launched against the Houthi militants in late March.
A June report classified Taiz and nine other of Yemen’s 22 governorates as facing food insecurity at ‘emergency’ level – one step below famine on a five-point international scale, the WFP's statement said.
The recent deterioration in security in Taiz has had a severe impact on food and fuel availability and prices.
According to WFP’s market monitoring for Yemen for the first half of October, essential food and fuel were scarce in governorates where fighting had escalated in recent weeks.
The report revealed that Taiz was the worst affected in Yemen with the price of diesel increasing by 500 percent compared to pre-crisis levels and the price of wheat flour doubling.
WFP has overcome extreme challenges to reach 1 million vulnerable people in Yemen on average every month since the conflict started earlier this year. In September and October, WFP expanded its reach, providing food assistance to over 2 million people each month.
Violence since late March has exacerbated Yemen’s already poor food security, adding more than 3 million people to the ranks of the severely hungry in less than a year, it said, adding that 7.6 million people are severely food insecure, a level of need requiring urgent external food assistance.