Guterres Calls for Aid Access in Coup-Held Sana’a, Hodeidah

A ship is docked at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
A ship is docked at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
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Guterres Calls for Aid Access in Coup-Held Sana’a, Hodeidah

A ship is docked at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad
A ship is docked at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Abduljabbar Zeyad

UN Chief António Guterres urged Yemeni conflicting parties to agree on allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to each of the Houthi controlled cities Sana'a and Hodeidah.

“I hope it will be possible for an agreement to be achieved between the parties to allow for Hodeida and Sana'a to be fully operational for the humanitarian needs of the Yemeni people who are suffering in such a terrible way.

"They deserve our solidarity and our commitment," Guterres told reporters after meeting with Kuwait's emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The United Nations has tried to mediate between Yemeni warring parties to end the conflict but failed to do so.

Asked about plans to begin negotiations in Kuwait on the crisis in Yemen, the Secretary-General said the UN is doing its best to create the conditions for the present stalemate to be overcome.

“Kuwait has been very successful in the first conference that was organized. We will be working very closely with the [parties] to see when and how a new strong initiative will be possible,” he stressed.

To a question on getting aid through Sana'a airport or Hodeida port, Guterres said that his Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is pushing to create the conditions for both Hodeida and Sana'a to allow for an effective use, for humanitarian purposes, of these two very important infrastructures.



Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Fire Kills 20 Aid Seekers, UN Decries ‘Horrifying Suffering’ 

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Fire Kills 20 Aid Seekers, UN Decries ‘Horrifying Suffering’ 

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Gaza's civil defense agency said that Israeli gunfire killed 20 people waiting for aid in the south of the Palestinian territory on Monday.  

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire... were transferred to the Red Cross field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, then to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis".  

He added that the people had been waiting to reach an aid center in Rafah "when the occupation forces opened fire" near the Al-Alam roundabout.  

When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports.  

Meanwhile, a new UN food crisis report released on Monday said the resumption of military operations in Gaza was escalating the food crisis in Gaza "to unprecedented levels."   

The Hunger Hotspots report by the World Food Program and Food and Agricultural Organization said that no adequate humanitarian aid or commercial supplies have reached the Gaza Strip since the end of the eight-week ceasefire, the longest interruption since the start of the conflict.   

According to the latest projections, released in May, the whole of Gaza's 2.1 million people are at risk of falling into acute food insecurity by September.   

The UN human rights chief said Israel’s warfare in Gaza is inflicting “horrifying, unconscionable suffering” on Palestinians and urged government leaders to exert pressure on Israel’s government and the Hamas movement to end it.  

“Israel’s means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza,” Volker Türk told the 47-member Human Rights Council in an address that raised concerns about the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel and the fallout from sweeping US tariffs among other topics.  

Israeli authorities have regularly accused the council of anti-Israel bias, and the Trump administration has kept the United States out of its proceedings.