Escalating violence in Yemen displaces 71,000 children, exacerbates malnutrition: UNICEF

Around 71,000 children are among some 130,000 people displaced across Yemen over the past three weeks, as escalating violence due to Saudi-backed attacks continues to disrupt healthcare and deepen hunger and malnutrition among children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says.

UNICEF Country Representative in Yemen Akhil Iyer told reporters at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Friday that the majority of those displaced had been forcibly relocated from or within the southwestern governorate of Ta’izz, with children bearing a particularly heavy burden of the worsening humanitarian crisis.

“Conflict drives hunger, and hunger makes children more vulnerable to conflict,” Iyer told reporters via videolink.

He added that UNICEF is “very concerned about a very visible increase in acute malnutrition among children.”

UNICEF's mobile teams have conducted screening assessments for approximately 2,900 children across accessible regions during the past several weeks. According to Iyer, over 25 percent of these children exhibited acute malnutrition, with 200 cases classified as "severe" – representing the most critical classification.

According to UNICEF, the rising cases of child malnutrition recorded in accessible areas represent only part of a much wider crisis across Yemen. The agency estimates that 2.2 million children under the age of five will suffer acute malnutrition this year, including more than 500,000 expected to experience severe acute malnutrition.

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Iyer further said UNICEF had confirmed that at least 15 children had been killed and 14 others injured in the ongoing war since early September, while three children remained unaccounted for.

“Behind every one of those children is a parent living through the unimaginable – grief, fear, or the agony of not knowing,” Iyer said

“Beyond being uprooted from their homes, too many children have already paid the heaviest price in this conflict,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni military announced in a statement that Saudi warplanes carried out 14 air raids and missile strikes across Yemen over the past 24 hours.

The statement added that F-15SA and Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force took off from King Khalid Air Base near the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait and an airbase in Taif. Saudi missile attacks were also launched from the Najran region.

The attacks targeted the governorates of Ta’izz, ‘Amran, Ma’rib and Sa’ada, the Yemeni army added, without providing any information about possible casualties and the extent of damage caused.

The military highlighted that “this brings the total number of Saudi attacks against our country, since the start of the [latest] escalation, to 1,032 airstrikes and missile attacks.”

The Sana’a administration declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20, in response to “an unfair and tyrannical siege” on Yemen lasting nearly 12 years.

The Yemeni military has announced a number of successful operations aimed at ships linked to Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed a blockade on Yemen and launched a sweeping military aggression against the country, backed by military, political and logistical support from the United States and several Western countries.

The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis. However, Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its stated objective of reinstating a puppet regime that serves its interests.

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