Local Editor

The United Nations [UN] warned on Monday against the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, which has been the target of military strikes by Saudi Arabia for over two months.

A spokesman for the UN, Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters at the world body’s daily briefing in New York on Monday that in excess of 15 million Yemenis face a lack of basic healthcare; as many as 53 health facilities have been closed and malnutrition has been on the rise in Yemen.

He said that the data on the impoverished country was provided by World Health Organization [WHO].

Dujarric added that a shortage of fuel and increasing insecurity have blocked the distribution of food aid to Yemeni people.

"Our humanitarian colleagues also say that there are more than 250,000 metric tons of grain in stores in Aden and Hudaydah, but that it can’t be transported due to lack of fuel and insecurity, nor be cooked because of a lack of cooking gas," said Dujarric, referring to two southern Yemeni cities.

Additionally, the WHO has reported that dozens of health facilities in Yemen have been targeted by Saudi airstrikes as well as shelling and fighting in Yemen since March, adding that 10 health care workers have been killed or injured in the ongoing conflict.

The United Nations cultural agency, UNICEF, has also said that 87 percent of the schools in southern Yemeni provinces have been closed due to the ongoing conflict.

Dujarric also said the humanitarian agencies in Yemen will not be able to accomplish their mission unless commercial imports to Yemen are fully resumed and a safe environment for the transport of imported goods is provided. 

The expression of concern by the UN official comes as Saudi Arabia keeps pounding Yemen with deadly airstrikes.

Approximately 2,000 have lost their lives due to the conflict in Yemen since March 19, according to the UN. 

The US-led Saudi military aggression against Yemen began on March 26 -- without a UN mandate -- in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a close ally of Saudi Arabia.