Local Editor

Scores of people have been wounded in Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen in recent days and they have been received by medical facilities supported by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF], the organization said on its website on Monday.

A Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States, has been carrying out deadly airstrikes against Yemen since March. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.

According to the MSF, scores of people in several locations, including victims of a July 4 attack on a crowded marketplace in Harad District in Yemen have been treated by MSF teams.

More than 67 injured persons in Beni Hassan, in northwestern Yemen’s Harad District, were treated by and MSF team following a series of Saudi-led airstrikes targeting a busy marketplace after people broke Ramadan’s fast on the night of July 4. An estimated 20 people were killed in the attack in the market, and the MSF team recovered nine dead bodies among the debris the following day. An elderly injured man was also rescued and transferred to a health center.

MSF head of mission in Yemen, Colette Gadenne, said that, "It is unacceptable that [Saudi-led] airstrikes take place in highly concentrated civilian areas where people are gathering and going about their daily lives, especially at a time such as Ramadan".

The attack on the market in Beni Hassan, called Aahem triangle, first hit a cooking-gas station at about 8:30 p.m. At about 9:00 p.m., a second attack hit the heart of the crowded market, as well as two restaurants and a hotel.

Medical teams were quickly overwhelmed by the number of wounded persons and the severity of their injuries. "It has been terrible. We could never have imagined that we could receive so many severely injured people at one time in a small health center like Beni Hassan," said one member of the MSF team, Dr. Ammar. "The whole team is shocked by what they have seen, especially since it happened to people enjoying an evening in Ramadan."

Elsewhere in Yemen, there have been several attacks with mass civilian casualties. 

In southern Yemen, MSF teams assisted 23 injured civilians due to a Saudi-led airstrike that took place in Alfayush market, in Lahj Governorate.