‘Isnad’ Center Aims to Go beyond Aid and Provide Development for Yemen

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers aid in Yemen. (SPA)
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers aid in Yemen. (SPA)
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‘Isnad’ Center Aims to Go beyond Aid and Provide Development for Yemen

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers aid in Yemen. (SPA)
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers aid in Yemen. (SPA)

In December 2017, the Saudi capital Riyadh hosted two important meetings to draft a humanitarian plan for Yemen.

The coalition for restoring legitimacy in Yemen presented to officials traveling from the UN a plan that seeks to go beyond simply providing aid. It seeks to improve living conditions in Yemen, as well as implement development and economic plans. The plan will effectively reach all regions without discrimination and provide safe passages and improve and develop current ones.

After a series of meetings and studies, the Isnad center was established with the purpose of implementing a comprehensive humanitarian operation throughout Yemen. A number of media appearances, interviews and social media posts were made to highlight this initiative.

The United Nations has since the Houthi coup of September 2014 been operating in Yemen as part of what activists said was a “temporary” plan.

Representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Jamie McGoldrick, who recently completed his mission in Yemen, said that the organization had worked tirelessly with its partners to meet the demands of 10 million Yemeni people in the past year.

He added that operations targeted the most vulnerable people, but acknowledged that workers in the humanitarian field had limited means and resources. The only way to meet the needs of the people is through ending the war and resuming political consultations.

Yemeni activist Al-Bara Shiban responded to McGoldrick, saying that UN relief agencies tried to show that resolving the Yemeni conflict starts by ending the humanitarian crisis. They fail to see that the failure of the political process is the cause of the war.

Ending the conflict therefore should not always be addressed from the humanitarian angle because the humanitarian crisis was caused by the failure of the political process, he added.

They are therefore not addressing the real source of the problem, which is the coup that dragged the country towards its current humanitarian crisis, he stressed.

“We feel as if the priorities of the UN relief agencies are not the same as that of many Yemeni people. For example, attention has been greatly focused on the humanitarian issue, while ignoring the rehabilitation of state institutions. Restoring the functioning of these institutions is much more important than relief programs,” he declared.

Restoring them back to normal is part of a long-term solution, while relief programs are only temporary, Shiban said.

Another Yemeni social activist, Fayza al-Suleimani, stated: “Innovative solutions must be considered. State institutions should be supported because the local authorities are the main guarantors and they primarily play a role in building and sustaining the complete development system.”

“The humanitarian crisis emerged due to the absence of the state in Yemen and due to the Houthi coup,” she stressed.

Given these discrepant stances, Isnad was introduced to offer emergency aid and pave the way for a plan that would restore hope for Yemen.

The Isnad plan is more than just an offer for aid, but it is an innovation. The Arab Coalition is speaking about some 15,000 job opportunities that are offered in just one project related to roads.

Economic aid meanwhile started with a $2 billion grant for Yemen’s central bank and $1.5 billion for the UN. In addition, a relief bridge has been opened for around week.

It witnessed the delivery of aid to islands that had never dreamed of receiving such services or help, said Yemeni activists.

Saudi Ambassador to Yemen and Isnad CEO Mohammed al-Jaber explained that its humanitarian program is based on a “long-term plan that includes that encompasses the central bank and 17 safe passages that start from six main centers.”

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that with cooperation with the legitimate Yemeni government, passages for UN convoys can be opened any time they want and according to a schedule. The UN should coordinate with the Houthis if it wants to send aid to Houthi-controlled regions.

“We held two workshops with the UN through Isnad. The center seeks to support all international organizations, including the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, a western official in London stressed that Saudi Arabia understands the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

Asked to comment on the comprehensive humanitarian plan that was recently unveiled by the Arab Coalition, he said that the “humanitarian plan is good,” but Hodeidah needs to operate as a main port.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the port is currently operating at 70 percent of the capacity it was at in November.

The port was temporarily closed after the Houthis fired a ballistic missile against Riyadh.

A UN official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, deemed as “excellent” the plan on providing safe passage for aid delivery “should the Houthis respect it when the convoys pass through their territories.”

This also hinges of the monitoring UN agency and whether it is accurate in reporting violations.



Gazans’ Daily Struggle for Water After Deadly Israeli Strike

 Palestinians wait for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians wait for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
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Gazans’ Daily Struggle for Water After Deadly Israeli Strike

 Palestinians wait for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians wait for donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP)

The al-Manasra family rarely get enough water for both drinking and washing after their daily trudge to a Gaza distribution point like the one where eight people were killed on Sunday in a strike that Israel's military said had missed its target.

Living in a tent camp by the ruins of a smashed concrete building in Gaza City, the family say their children are already suffering from diarrhea and skin maladies and from the lack of clean water, and they fear worse to come.

"There's no water, our children have been infected with scabies, there are no hospitals to go to and no medications," said Akram Manasra, 51.

He had set off on Monday for a local water tap with three of his daughters, each of them carrying two heavy plastic containers in Gaza's blazing summer heat, but they only managed to fill two - barely enough for the family of 10.

Gaza's lack of clean water after 21 months of war and four months of Israeli blockade is already having "devastating impacts on public health" the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in a report this month.

For people queuing at a water distribution point on Sunday it was fatal. A missile that Israel said had targeted fighters but malfunctioned hit a queue of people waiting to collect water at the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Israel's blockade of fuel along with the difficulty in accessing wells and desalination plants in zones controlled by the Israeli military is severely constraining water, sanitation and hygiene services according to OCHA.

Fuel shortages have also hit waste and sewage services, risking more contamination of the tiny, crowded territory's dwindling water supply, and diseases causing diarrhea and jaundice are spreading among people crammed into shelters and weakened by hunger.

"If electricity was allowed to desalination plants the problem of a lethal lack of water, which is what's becoming the situation now in Gaza, would be changed within 24 hours," said James Elder, the spokesperson for the UN's children's agency UNICEF.

"What possible reason can there be for denying of a legitimate amount of water that a family needs?" he added.

COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, an Israeli military official said that Israel was allowing sufficient fuel into Gaza but that its distribution around the enclave was not under Israel's purview.

THIRSTY AND DIRTY

For the Manasra family, like others in Gaza, the daily toil of finding water is exhausting and often fruitless.

Inside their tent the family tries to maintain hygiene by sweeping. But there is no water for proper cleaning and sometimes they are unable to wash dishes from their meager meals for several days at a time.

Manasra sat in the tent and showed how one of his young daughters had angry red marks across her back from what he said a doctor had told them was a skin infection caused by the lack of clean water.

They maintain a strict regimen of water use by priority.

After pouring their two containers of water from the distribution point into a broken plastic water butt by their tent, they use it to clean themselves from the tap, using their hands to spoon it over their heads and bodies.

Water that runs off into the basin underneath is then used for dishes and after that - now grey and dirty - for clothes.

"How is this going to be enough for 10 people? For the showering, washing, dish washing, and the washing of the covers. It's been three months; we haven't washed the covers, and the weather is hot," Manasra said.

His wife, Umm Khaled, sat washing clothes in a tiny puddle of water at the bottom of a bucket - all that was left after the more urgent requirements of drinking and cooking.

"My daughter was very sick from the heat rash and the scabies. I went to several doctors for her and they prescribed many medications. Two of my children yesterday, one had diarrhea and vomiting and the other had fever and infections from the dirty water," she said.