Houthi Attacks Displace 8,000 Yemenis In 30 Days

A girl holds her sister outside their tent at a camp for people displaced in the northwestern Yemeni city of Saada December 13, 2011. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A girl holds her sister outside their tent at a camp for people displaced in the northwestern Yemeni city of Saada December 13, 2011. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
TT

Houthi Attacks Displace 8,000 Yemenis In 30 Days

A girl holds her sister outside their tent at a camp for people displaced in the northwestern Yemeni city of Saada December 13, 2011. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A girl holds her sister outside their tent at a camp for people displaced in the northwestern Yemeni city of Saada December 13, 2011. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Escalated Houthi militia attacks have triggered a new wave of displacement of more than 8,000 people in September alone, said the International Organization for Migration (IMO), sending the total of IDPs up to 70,000 people arriving in Marib governorate during 2020.

The increase in IDPs living in Marib has further swelled pressures on basic services, the IMO said in a statement.

Marib is so densely populated that many IDPs have no choice but to take refuge in shelters that are subpar. Many families are left in need of water, sanitation services and food.

In its statement, the IMO said that it had completed the process of handing over water systems to local communities in six IDP camps in Marib, which provided better access to clean water for more than 12,000 displaced people.

IDPs in Marib are facing many challenges, and their needs are on the rise, the IOM statement read.

IOM-provided water, sanitation and hygiene programs in Marib are now accessible through the support provided by the EU, USAID, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the statement added.

In other news, the Yemeni internationally recognized government denounced the Houthi shelling of civilian neighborhoods in Taiz governorate, which has been cordoned off by militias since 2015.

Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani labeled the heavy-weight attacks waged by the Iran-backed militias against Taiz residents as “criminal.”

He explained that the bombing by the Houthi militia “is targeting residential neighborhoods densely populated with civilians and displaced persons who have begun to return to their homes, and dozens of women and children have been killed and wounded.”

Bombing residential neighborhoods in Taiz, terrorizing civilians, and the siege imposed by the militia on the governorate is part of the Houthi-adopted policy of collective punishment against Yemenis, Eryani explained.

Eryani voiced his surprise towards the international silence over the Houthi committed atrocities in Taiz, and demanded an immediate and effective intervention to bring the attacks and humanitarian violations to a halt.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
TT

US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.