UN Envoy: Houthis Rejected Updated Proposal to Reopen Routes to Taiz

UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Sanaa Airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, 08 June 2022. (EPA)
UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Sanaa Airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, 08 June 2022. (EPA)
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UN Envoy: Houthis Rejected Updated Proposal to Reopen Routes to Taiz

UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Sanaa Airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, 08 June 2022. (EPA)
UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Sanaa Airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, 08 June 2022. (EPA)

The UN special envoy for Yemen said Monday he plans to explore the possibility of a longer and expanded truce with the country’s warring parties in the coming weeks.

Hans Grundberg said an extension could be a good step in moving toward a ceasefire in the country’s eight-year war. He didn’t provide details of the length or expansion he is seeking ahead of the Aug. 2 expiration of the current two-month truce extension.

Grundberg told the UN Security Council that renewing the truce would provide time and the opportunity to start serious discussions on Yemen's economy and security and to begin addressing priority issues such as revenues and payment of salaries.

"I ask the parties to engage with me on these issues with a sense of urgency and flexibility," he said.

The ceasefire between Yemen’s legitimate government and Iran-backed Houthi militias initially took effect April 2 and was extended on June 2. Though each side at times accused the other of violating the truce, it was the first nationwide halt in fighting in the past six years of the conflict.

"To date, the truce has been holding for over three months," Grundberg said.

Civilian casualties have been reduced by two-thirds, compared to the three months before the truce began, he said. And since the renewal of the truce June 2, seven fuel ships carrying nearly 200,000 metric tons of various fuel products have been cleared to enter Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah.

Since the start of the truce, 15 commercial round-trip flights have transported almost 7,000 passengers between Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the Jordanian capital, Amman, Grundberg added. He said discussions are under way with Egyptian authorities about regular flights to Cairo.

Under the truce, the parties committed to meet to agree on road openings, including lifting the Houthis' ground blockade of Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city. Grundberg said the Houthis rejected the latest UN updated proposal on a phased opening but his efforts to reach a solution will continue.

"An agreement on road openings in Taiz and other governorates would be momentous, and its benefits would reverberate across Yemen," he said.

The UN envoy expressed concern at "worrisome escalatory rhetoric by the parties questioning the benefits of the truce" in recent weeks.

He called this "a dangerous move," urged the parties to halt such rhetoric, and warned that the alternative to the truce "is a return to hostilities and likely an intensified phase of conflict with all of its predictable consequences or Yemeni civilians and regional security."

Grundberg said the UN continues to receive reports from both sides about alleged incidents including direct and indirect fire, drone attacks, reconnaissance overflights and new fortifications.

"The parties are also allegedly sending reinforcements to main front lines including in Marib, Hodeidah and Taiz," he said.

Joyce Msuya , assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the council that the Yemeni rial is still falling and "many more families are going hungry again."

But she said the UN World Food Program was forced to cut rations for millions of people several weeks ago because the UN appeal for $4.27 billion for humanitarian aid for Yemen this year has received just over $1.1 billion.

In addition, Msuya said, a UN verification and inspection system created in 2016 to facilitate vital commercial imports to Yemen is also running out of money and will shut down in September unless it gets $3.5 million to cover operations for the year's final months.



Israel Drafts Plan to Annex West Bank Settlements

An Israeli settlement in the West Bank. (Reuters)
An Israeli settlement in the West Bank. (Reuters)
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Israel Drafts Plan to Annex West Bank Settlements

An Israeli settlement in the West Bank. (Reuters)
An Israeli settlement in the West Bank. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed calls from his ministers to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank next year after US President Donald Trump takes office.

In recent private talks, Netanyahu said the issue of sovereignty in the West Bank should return to the agenda once Trump is in the White House, according to public broadcaster Kan.

This aligns Netanyahu with coalition members already pushing for such a move next year.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the National Religious Party - Zionism Party and holds a position within Israel’s Defense Ministry where he oversees the administration of the occupied West Bank and its settlements, said Monday that a Trump win would create a “key opportunity” for Israel to impose sovereignty.

“We were close to applying sovereignty to settlements in Judea and Samaria during Trump’s last term, and now it’s time to make it happen,” he said.

“2025: the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich wrote on X, using the biblical name by which Israel refers to the occupied West Bank.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also welcomed Donald Trump’s victory, saying, “This is the time for sovereignty.”

Trump’s win has encouraged Israeli right-wing leaders to push for annexing and expanding West Bank settlements.

The plan to extend sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and West Bank settlements dates back to 2020, when Netanyahu sought Trump’s approval to move forward.

Kan reported that annexation plans are ready to be implemented.

In 2020, as part of Trump’s “Deal of the Century,” Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin’s team, working with US officials, prepared maps, regulations, and a draft government resolution, Kan said.

The plan includes access roads and potential expansion zones for each settlement.

The West Bank is home to around 144 official settlements and over 100 unofficial outposts, covering approximately 42% of the territory, including their jurisdictions. These areas house about 600,000 Israeli settlers.