The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that an escalation in fighting is devastating communities in Yemen that are already struggling to survive after more than a decade of conflict. According to humanitarian agencies, approximately 34,000 people have been displaced in the governorates of Taiz and Al-Hodeidah since Thursday, when hostilities escalated. Civilians are reportedly among those killed and injured as clashes intensify.
Around three-quarters of those displaced remain within the two frontline districts, where ongoing shelling restricts access and leaves some families stranded. The number of displaced people is increasing by the hour as families continue to arrive in host communities and displacement sites.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that challenges in road access due to ongoing clashes and the disruption of telecommunications networks in the affected districts are slowing efforts to reach, register, and verify newly displaced families, further complicating an already difficult humanitarian response.
According to IOM, displaced families urgently need cash assistance, emergency shelter, essential household items, and food. At reception sites and throughout host communities, access to safe drinking water and hygiene support remains limited. Additionally, affected populations urgently require emergency healthcare and referral pathways for the injured.
“Families are arriving with nothing: no shelter, no food, no way to know if it's safe to go back,” said Abdusattor Esoev, IOM Yemen’s Chief of Mission, on Monday.
“Many of these are people who have already been displaced once, twice, even four times before. Every time fighting flares up, they lose whatever little they had managed to rebuild.”
Esoev voiced particular concern about reports that some families may be unable to safely leave frontline areas due to ongoing hostilities and insecurity along access routes.
Although reaching many people in need remains a major challenge, humanitarian organizations are mobilizing to respond. As of Monday, aid agencies had reached approximately 14,000 people, primarily in Taiz, as well as in Marib and Abyan, providing them with emergency supplies.
"We call on all parties to respect international humanitarian law. They must protect civilians, including by allowing them to move to safer areas, and must facilitate unimpeded access for humanitarian relief to reach all those in dire need," OCHA said on Tuesday.
Authorities have issued urgent appeals to humanitarian organizations for additional support to address growing needs.
"We urgently need funding to scale up the response, $7 million is required for the Rapid Response Mechanism alone, and a further $3 million for shelter and household items, with stocks having been depleted," OCHA stressed.
This year’s US$2.2 billion humanitarian appeal for Yemen overall remains grossly underfunded, at just 20 percent, with only $438 million received to date.
UN condems Houthi cross-border attacks in southern Saudi Arabia
Also on Tuesday, the United Nations condemned the Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, for launching cross-border attacks against multiple sites in southern Saudi Arabia. These attacks reportedly affected civilian and energy infrastructure, and the UN expressed deep concern over reports of civilian casualties.
“We are equally concerned by the intensification of military clashes across multiple frontlines in Yemen, particularly reports of possible civilian casualties resulting from this fighting,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 728 casualties have been reported due to recent fighting across Yemen since August 24, including 127 deaths and 601 injuries. At least 676 casualties have been reported since September 3 alone.
The UN calls upon all parties to the conflict to exercise restraint and prevent further escalation.
“We further urge them to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to refrain from directing attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and to take constant care to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects,“ Dujarric said.
On Monday, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called Ansar Allah’s latest attacks, which have triggered increasingly intense clashes across several frontlines, “an extremely alarming development.”
“Reports of civilians killed and injured, families displaced and civilian infrastructure damaged are deeply troubling,” Grundberg said.
“Yemen has already endured more than a decade of conflict, and a return to sustained large-scale fighting will carry grave consequences for civilians and make an already difficult path toward a political settlement even harder.”
The UN envoy continues to engage directly with the warring parties to contain the current escalation and preserve space for dialogue. He also called on regional and international actors to support these aims and a return to political negotiations.
“Yemenis’ demands for security, functioning institutions and a future beyond this conflict require a credible political path capable of addressing the political, security and economic issues at the core of the conflict,” Grundberg said.
Nearly two-thirds of Yemen's population needs humanitarian aid
The military escalation comes as hunger, malnutrition, loss of resilience, and collapsing humanitarian funding have already pushed millions of Yemenis deeper into crisis. An estimated 22.3 million people—nearly two-thirds of Yemen's population—are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Currently, over 53 percent of the total population—approximately 18 million people—are experiencing severe food insecurity. Yemen's nutrition crisis is one of the worst in the world. More than 2.5 million children under five, as well as 1.3 million pregnant or breastfeeding women, are acutely malnourished. Nearly half of all children under five are stunted.
Furthermore, 40 percent of the country's health facilities are nonfunctional or partially functional, severely limiting the capacity for malnutrition screening and treatment. As the health system continues to collapse, an estimated 19.3 million people require urgent healthcare.
Yemen's ongoing emergency is set against the backdrop of continued fragmentation and conflict among multiple factions. These factions include Houthi rebels, who control the capital city of Sanaa and large areas in the north and west; the internationally recognized government, based in Aden; and various armed groups that control different parts of the country.
This unresolved conflict and climate-related disasters have forced millions of people from their homes. Yemen is facing the world's fifth-largest internal displacement crisis, with over 5 million people displaced within the country. Internally displaced people, refugees, and migrants are among the most vulnerable.