Houthi Attacks Displace 10,000 Yemenis From Marib Outskirts

Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
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Houthi Attacks Displace 10,000 Yemenis From Marib Outskirts

Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha
Children walk at a camp for people recently displaced by fighting in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf between government forces and Houthis, in Marib, Yemen March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Ali Owidha

Houthi militias have not only displaced thousands of Yemenis over the past years but also targeted those displaced in the camps on the outskirts of Marib governorate with missiles, creating a new wave of displacement to Marib city.

The Government of Yemen's Executive Unit for Internally Displaced Persons issued a report on this and affirmed that more than 1,500 families, equal to 10,000 people, were forced to flee again from Mudghal district in Marib’s outskirts to its capital and other government-controlled districts as a result of Houthi attacks.

According to the report, of which Asharq Al-Awsat has obtained a copy, Raghwan district in northwestern Marib has hosted thousands of displaced people from the conflict areas in Majzar and Naham districts.

The total number of internally displaced persons has amounted to more than 20,000, the report noted.

“Due to the clashes and the intensified battles, thousands of families were forced to flee from their homes. Some were displaced for the second time and others for the third time.”

Some fled on feet and were displaced to the districts of Sirwah, Medina, and Wadi, while others were displaced to nearby locations within the directorate itself, the report indicated.

It recalled the first tragedy resulting from the torrents that swept away some camps in all directorates of the governorate, with the absence of any intervention by the humanitarian partners in the district.

It further pointed out that the meteorology department expects heavy rains in the coming days and fears a new tragedy for the displaced in the governorate directorates.

The Executive Unit’s field monitoring and evaluation team hastened to monitor the recent displacement to know the whereabouts of those displaced. It requested its partners to respond quickly to provide them with all their needs, in terms of shelter and non-food items.

It set toilets, provided water tanks and hygiene bags, and asked the Food Security Bloc to direct partners to respond rapidly and cover the needs of the displaced, including food baskets.



UN-backed Experts Say Israel is Destroying Gaza's Health Sector

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians sit next to the rubble of houses destroyed in Israel's military offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians sit next to the rubble of houses destroyed in Israel's military offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo
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UN-backed Experts Say Israel is Destroying Gaza's Health Sector

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians sit next to the rubble of houses destroyed in Israel's military offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians sit next to the rubble of houses destroyed in Israel's military offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo

A UN commission on Thursday accused Israel of destroying Gaza's health care system through “relentless and deliberate attacks” in its yearlong war with Hamas.

The expert panel was commissioned in 2021 by the UN-backed Human Rights Council to look into rights violations and abuses in Israel and the Palestinian areas it controls. Led by Navi Pillay, a former UN human rights chief, the panel members are independent experts and do not speak for the world body.

Israeli forces have raided hospitals in Gaza on several occasions, accusing militants of sheltering there. Palestinian medical officials have denied such allegations and accused Israel of recklessly endangering civilians. Hospitals can lose their protection under international law if they are used for military purposes.
The report accused Israel of deliberately killing, detaining and torturing Palestinian medical staff, of targeting their vehicles and of restricting permits for medical evacuations from Gaza. It said those amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Israel must immediately stop its unprecedented wanton destruction of health care facilities in Gaza,” Pillay said in a statement. “By targeting health care facilities, Israel is targeting the right to health itself with significant long-term detrimental effects on the civilian population.”

The commission said children have borne much of the cost of such actions, pointing to attacks on medical facilities offering pediatric and neonatal care.

The panel also said it found that thousands of adults and children detained in Gaza had been subjected to “widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence."

It said Israeli security forces had raped male detainees, attacked their genitals and forced them to perform humiliating or strenuous acts while stripped naked. It said children who had been detained had returned to Gaza unaccompanied and deeply traumatized.

The commission further said the abuse had been institutionalized by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He has boasted of making conditions in the country's prisons as harsh as possible under Israeli law in what he says is an attempt to deter militant attacks.

Israel detained nine soldiers in July over what their defense lawyer said were allegations of sexual abuse of a detainee being held at a shadowy facility where detainees from Gaza have been taken since the start of the war. The lawyer denied the allegations, and their arrest sparked protests by Israeli hard-liners.

The commission also said that hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza were subjected to physical and sexual violence, forced isolation and threats, and given limited access to water, food and hygiene facilities. It said Palestinian armed groups were also guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and called on them to immediately release all the hostages.