Local Editor

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "very much disappointed" by Yemen’s failed ceasefire but was clinging to hope that the fighting might still be halted, his spokesman said on Monday.

The UN-declared ceasefire failed to take hold on Saturday as Saudi-led coalition air strikes persisted in Yemen. The pause in the fighting was meant to last a week to allow aid deliveries to the country’s 21 million people who have endured over three months of Saudi-led bombing.

"The secretary general is very much disappointed that the humanitarian pause did not take hold over the weekend," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that, "We continue to reiterate our call for an unconditional humanitarian pause."

"We have not lost hope and discussions are ongoing," Dujarric said.

He also defended the UN’s decision to call the ceasefire.

The UN’s Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed "had received the commitments he felt were necessary for us to come out with this announcement," Dujarric said, adding that it was "incumbent on all the parties involved to abide by those commitments."

Also, Saudi-led air raids killed 21 civilians in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Monday, relatives of the victims and medics said, two days after the start of a United Nations [UN]-brokered humanitarian truce that Saudi Arabia does not recognize.

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