UN Appeals for $4.3 Bn to Help Millions in War-torn Yemen

Yemeni children attend class outdoors in a heavily damaged school on the first day of the new academic year in Yemen's war-torn western province of Hodeida on October 17, 2022. Khaled Ziad, AFP
Yemeni children attend class outdoors in a heavily damaged school on the first day of the new academic year in Yemen's war-torn western province of Hodeida on October 17, 2022. Khaled Ziad, AFP
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UN Appeals for $4.3 Bn to Help Millions in War-torn Yemen

Yemeni children attend class outdoors in a heavily damaged school on the first day of the new academic year in Yemen's war-torn western province of Hodeida on October 17, 2022. Khaled Ziad, AFP
Yemeni children attend class outdoors in a heavily damaged school on the first day of the new academic year in Yemen's war-torn western province of Hodeida on October 17, 2022. Khaled Ziad, AFP

The United Nations said it needed $4.3 billion this year to help millions of people in war-ravaged Yemen, ahead of a donors' conference on Monday.

Aid agencies need the money to help more than 17 million people in the country, which has been devastated by an eight-year civil war, said AFP.

The conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the world's worst humanitarian tragedies.

Yemen is also at the forefront of the climate crisis, with severe drought and flooding threatening lives, the UN said.

It acknowledged that "record global humanitarian needs are stretching donor support like never before".

"But without sustained support for the aid operation in Yemen, the lives of millions of Yemenis will hang in the balance, and efforts to end the conflict once and for all will become even more challenging," it said in a statement.

A truce that began on April 2 last year expired on October 2.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, who will attend Monday's donor conference in Geneva, said the international community had "the power and the means to end this crisis".

"And it begins by funding our appeal fully and committing to disbursing funds quickly," he said in the statement.

Last year, the UN raised more than $2.2 billion to enable aid agencies to reach nearly 11 million people across the country every month.



Israel Says It Captured Weapons from Iran Being Smuggled to West Bank

An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Says It Captured Weapons from Iran Being Smuggled to West Bank

An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
An Israeli soldier holds a weapon during an Israeli raid, in Al-Faraa camp near Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 27, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli authorities say they seized a large cache of weapons originating in Iran and bound for Palestinian fighters in the West Bank.

A joint statement from the military and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency on Wednesday said the cache included rockets, explosives, mortar launchers, sniper rifles and other weapons. They released photos purporting to show the weapons.

The statement did not say where the seizure took place, and the military did not respond to a request for comment.

The statement identified two units of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one purportedly based in Syria, that it said were responsible for the smuggling, and named their commanders. It did not provide further evidence of Iran’s involvement.

Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the occupied West Bank in recent years, targeting what it says are militants planning attacks.

The violence spiked after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry says nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since then. There has also been a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.