The United Nations warned Thursday that thousands of Yemeni civilians were at risk in the western province of Hodeidah after an increase in military attacks by Houthi militias this month.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that "concern is increasing" with "thousands of civilians at risk".
It added that preliminary reports showed that at least 700 people has been displaced by the recent fighting and that "there have already been civilian casualties".
"Indiscriminate attacks on residential areas are a breach of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately," said Auke Lootsma, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Yemen.
At least eight civilians, mostly women and children, were killed last week, and many houses and farms damaged, the UN said.
Meanwhile, A UN mission to inspect Safer, a long-abandoned fuel tanker off the coast of Yemen, which threatens to rupture and cause a massive oil spill, has been pushed to March, the body said Wednesday.
"We've hit a few delays with international shipping that were beyond our control and had some back and forth on signing documents, which has now been resolved," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
"For now, we think we can get there by early March. From our side we are doing everything possible to stick to that timeline and deploy the mission," he said.
Sticking to the new timeline will depend on continuous facilitation by the Houthis, Dujarric said.
The UN has communicated to them its “concern over several logistical issues that remain pending," he added. "We urgently need to resolve these issues in the next several days to avoid missing the window for timely deployment."
The 45-year-old fuel vessel, abandoned near the western port of Hodeidah since 2015, has 1.1 million barrels of crude on board, and a rupture or explosion would have disastrous environmental and humanitarian consequences.
Apart from corrosion to the aging vessel, essential work to curb explosive gases in its storage tanks has been neglected.
