Houthis Seek to Confiscate UNICEF Allowances for Teachers

A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo
A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo
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Houthis Seek to Confiscate UNICEF Allowances for Teachers

A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo
A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo

Iran-backed Houthi militias intend to seize cash incentives offered by UNICEF to 130,000 teachers in the areas under coup control, Yemeni educational sources in Sanaa said.

From late 2018, UNICEF, with Saudi and UAE funding, had been handing out allowances for teachers in Houthi-controlled areas.

The international organization earmarked a $50 monthly allowance for teachers in insurgency-controlled areas. Houthis had frozen the salaries of public sector employees, including teachers, in militia-run areas.

Under orders from Yahia Badreddin al-Houthi, who is the brother of Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, militia leaders started meeting with UNICEF officials to pressure the international body to replace teachers with Houthi members.

Sources accused the insurgents of setting out to destroy whatever is left of the education sector by confiscating cash incentives intended to help teachers who have struggled for four years under Houthi rule without salaries.

A school principal in Sanaa, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that militia leaders are arguing that education had been brought to a halt due to coronavirus precautionary measures which makes teachers undeserving of the money.

The principal denounced the Houthi move, saying that it denies teachers their rights.

“The Houthi group can easily pay the salaries of educators and employees from the huge revenues it earns from taxes, royalties, customs, and other sources, but instead it now plans to rob teachers of the crumbs provided by UNICEF,” they said.

The Houthis have transformed schools into arenas for recruiting and mobilizing minors.

According to official government reports and other reports of local and international human rights organizations, there are about 4.5 million Yemeni children who have been denied education since the militia’s nationwide coup.



49 Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza over 24 Hours, as Mediators Scramble to Restart Ceasefire

Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
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49 Killed by Israeli Strikes in Gaza over 24 Hours, as Mediators Scramble to Restart Ceasefire

Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al Farabi school following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 25 April 2025. (EPA)

 

At least 49 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to health officials, as Arab mediators scrambled to restart a ceasefire.
An airstrike in a neighborhood in western Gaza City early Saturday morning, flattened a three-story house, killing 10 people, according to a cameraman cooperating with The Associated Press. The number was confirmed by Gaza’s Health Ministry, along with three more people who were killed in the Shati refugee camp along the city's shoreline.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes.
The attacks come as Hamas said on Saturday that it sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try and get the stalled ceasefire back on track.
Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month and has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed, or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement President Donald Trump’s proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally.
Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages it holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January.
Hamas said Saturday that the delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group's vision to end the war, which includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and reconstruction.
Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said.
Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Meanwhile, Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade on Gaza even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling.
On Friday, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days.
About 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the UN The WFP has been supporting 47 kitchens that distribute 644,000 hot meals a day, WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 of the Hamas group, without providing evidence.
The war began when the Hamas-led group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.