Yemen: WFP warns of potential ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ as fighting blocks aid delivery

Intensifying fighting in Yemen has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people as shifting frontlines, blocked roads and growing insecurity severely restrict access to the city of Taiz and other conflict zones, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday. “We are critically concerned about the escalating conflict, but even more so about the growing number of people we can no longer reach because of it,” said El-Khidir Daloum, WFP country director in Yemen. He noted that many of the affected families have been displaced multiple times and were already struggling to afford even basic food items. “This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if assistance cannot move safely and reach those who need it most,” he warned. Trapped families, rising needsTaiz is Yemen’s third largest city and capital of an eponymous governorate in which some districts have hosted the largest numbers of people displaced by the mounting violence between Saudi-supported Government troops and Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Many of the displaced are now inaccessible due to ongoing fighting and imminent road closures around the governorate. WFP said the situation ...