Yemen Calls on UN to Expose Militias' Manipulation of Aid

Volunteers organizing aid distribution in Sana (EPA)
Volunteers organizing aid distribution in Sana (EPA)
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Yemen Calls on UN to Expose Militias' Manipulation of Aid

Volunteers organizing aid distribution in Sana (EPA)
Volunteers organizing aid distribution in Sana (EPA)

The legitimate Yemeni government called on the United Nations to expose the militias' manipulation of relief aid, using it for war effort.

The Permanent Representative to the UN, Abdullah al-Saadi, stressed during his meeting with the Resident UN Representative to Yemen and Humanitarian Coordinator William David Gressley, the need for international organizations and UN agencies to reveal the Houthi hindrance of humanitarian aid arrival.

Saadi said the continuous Houthi militia's attacks on Marib expose millions of civilians and internally displaced people to more humanitarian suffering and force another displacement, following Houthi shelling of their camps.

He also reviewed the catastrophic conditions that resulted from the militia's blockade of Taiz ongoing for more than six years.

"The effects of the war waged by Houthi militia on Yemeni people, in addition, to spread of the coronavirus pandemic, have exacerbated humanitarian suffering," Saba news quoted Saadi as saying.

The official explained that more than 80 percent of Yemenis are in need of protection and assistance, warning of the dire consequences of food insecurity on the present and future generations.

He called upon the international organizations and UN agencies to report the situation to the Security Council, urging them to exert more pressure on the militia to end its military escalation and violations and allow the arrival of the assistance.

Saadi stressed the importance of integrating development priorities and needs into humanitarian aid to achieve economic recovery, implement sustainable development goals, and support the local currency by transferring aid through the Central Bank.

For his part, the UN official praised the government's cooperation in alleviating difficulties before the arrival of humanitarian assistance, pointing out that the UN expanded its humanitarian operations in Marib and the Western Coast.

He asserted that ending Houthi attacks is of utmost necessity to protect civilians and enable the UN to help people in need.

Notably, the United Nations reported widespread poverty across the country, with about 20 million Yemenis in need of some kind of assistance, while UN agencies say that they provide food aid to about 10 million people.

The legitimate government accuses the UN organizations of spending more than a third of the aid on administrative expenses. It also accuses the Houthi militia of robbing most of the support.

Earlier in August, the UN warned that it might reduce its humanitarian programs in Yemen due to a lack of funding. Some programs are expected to end in September if they do not receive any additional financial support.



Israeli Soldiers Open Fire inside a West Bank Hospital While Searching for Fighters’ Bodies

 Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)
Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)
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Israeli Soldiers Open Fire inside a West Bank Hospital While Searching for Fighters’ Bodies

 Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)
Israeli troops enter the complex of the Turkish hospital, where they searched for the bodies of those killed in an airstrike, Israel said was targeting fighters, in the West Bank city of Tubas, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (AP)

Israeli soldiers opened fire inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday during a raid to seize the bodies of alleged fighters targeted in earlier airstrikes, a Palestinian doctor working at the hospital told The Associated Press.

Soldiers entered the Turkish Hospital complex in Tubas after the bodies of two Palestinians killed and one wounded in airstrikes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday were brought there, said Dr. Mahmoud Ghanam, who works in the hospital’s emergency department. The troops briefly handcuffed and arrested Ghanam and another doctor.

“The army entered in a brutal way, and they were shooting inside the emergency department,” said Ghanam. “They handcuffed us and took me and my colleague.”

The military confirmed that its troops were operating around the hospital searching for those targeted in the airstrikes, which they said had hit a militant cell near the Palestinian town of Al-Aqaba in the Jordan Valley. It denied that troops had entered the hospital building or fired gunshots inside.

The soldiers left after learning that the wounded man had been transferred to another hospital, Ghanam said. The soldiers wanted to take the bodies of the two men killed in the strike, but the hospital’s manager refused to hand over the bodies, Ghanam said.

Israeli raids on hospitals in the West Bank are rare but have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In Gaza, Israeli troops have systematically besieged, raided and damaged many hospitals.

About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis — attacks which have also been on the rise.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state.