World Bank: Damage in 16 Yemeni Cities Estimated at Over $8 Billion

Government troops repel a Houthi offensive on Marib, some 120 kilometers east of Sanaa, on February 14, 2021. (Getty Images)
Government troops repel a Houthi offensive on Marib, some 120 kilometers east of Sanaa, on February 14, 2021. (Getty Images)
TT
20

World Bank: Damage in 16 Yemeni Cities Estimated at Over $8 Billion

Government troops repel a Houthi offensive on Marib, some 120 kilometers east of Sanaa, on February 14, 2021. (Getty Images)
Government troops repel a Houthi offensive on Marib, some 120 kilometers east of Sanaa, on February 14, 2021. (Getty Images)

War in Yemen has wreaked damage worth 6.9 billion to 8.5 billion dollars in 16 of the country’s most vital cities such as Sanaa, the capital, Aden, the interim capital, the southern city of Taiz, and the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

According to the World Bank’s Yemen Dynamic Needs Assessment, infrastructure in these metropolises was widely destroyed. Connecting highways, bridges and even neighborhood alleys in these cities incurred significant damage.

“Major roads and bridges—and municipal roads in Sanaa, Aden, Ibb, Taiz, Hodeidah, Saada and Amran, among others—have been severely damaged. The damage to urban roads has rendered large segments inaccessible to people and vehicles, with negative impacts on trade, mobility and access to local services like markets, health facilities and schools,” read the report.

Through the Yemen Integrated Urban Services Emergency Project (YIUSEP), 234 kilometers of urban roads in eight cities have been rehabilitated, and access to critical services has been restored for more than three million beneficiaries.

The World Bank Board of Directors approved on Wednesday a $50 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, to support YIUSEP.

“This project is more necessary than ever. In addition to the devastating impact of the conflict and compounding effects of COVID19, Yemen is vulnerable to floods and other climate-related shocks” said Tania Meyer, World Bank Country Manager for Yemen.

“Through an integrated approach aimed at building resilience in urban areas, YIUSEP II will support basic services, key corridors and off-grid power to health and education facilities.”

Yemen had one of the lowest per capita levels of electricity consumption—and the lowest level of access to it in the Middle East and North Africa region—before the current conflict worsened in 2015. Its public supply from the national grid has since largely shut down.

Light emissions visible from satellite imagery indicate that electricity consumption has decreased by about 75%. The population and economy are suffering greatly from the effects the scarcity of diesel fuel is having on reducing the supply of electricity.



At Least 29 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT
20

At Least 29 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Gaza rescuers said at least 29 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on the war-battered Palestinian territory on Wednesday.

“There were at least 25 martyrs and dozens wounded" in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, while another four people were killed in a strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday there is “no way” Israel will halt its war in Gaza even if a deal is reached to release more hostages.

In comments released by Netanyahu's office from a visit to wounded soldiers the previous day, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas.”

Any ceasefire deal reached would be temporary, the prime minister said. If Hamas were to say they would release more hostages, “we’ll take them, and then we’ll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war,” Netanyahu said. “We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we’re going to the end.”

Netanyahu's comments are likely to complicate talks on a new ceasefire that had seemed to gain momentum after Hamas released the last living American hostage on Monday in a gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.