WFP says fighting has cut aid to 800,000 people in Yemen; 72 UN staff held by Houthis

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that intensifying fighting in Yemen has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people. The agency said shifting frontlines, blocked roads and growing insecurity severely restrict access to the city of Taiz and other conflict zones.

The WFP figure of 800,000 covers the whole country. It includes communities affected by access losses on the West Coast. In Taiz alone, WFP said it and its partners cannot reach more than 600,000 people who depend on humanitarian assistance. More than 200,000 of them are women and children.

El-Khidir Daloum, WFP country director in Yemen, said: “We are critically concerned about the escalating conflict, but even more so about the growing number of people we can no longer reach because of it.” He added: “This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if assistance cannot move safely and reach those who need it most.” WFP said many of the affected families have been displaced several times and were already struggling to afford basic food.

WFP described Taiz as Yemen’s third largest city and the capital of a governorate of the same name. Some of its districts have hosted the largest numbers of people displaced by fighting between Saudi-supported Government troops and Iran-backed Houthi rebels. WFP said 10 out of 16 districts in the governorate are already classified at emergency levels of food insecurity. Its latest monitoring indicates that wheat flour stocks are nearly depleted and local markets are running out of food.

WFP also gave national figures. More than 18 million people in Yemen face acute food insecurity. Some 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, including 500,000 with severe acute malnutrition. WFP said its recent monitoring in accessible areas found that nearly 75 per cent of households could not meet their basic food needs. It called this a record for this year.

The agency said the escalation has also disrupted its own operations. Offices have been breached, assets and food stocks lost and supply routes cut off.

The United Nations is a party to this story. WFP said 37 of its staff are among 72 UN personnel who remain detained by Houthi de facto authorities. It said it has joined UN Secretary-General António Guterres in repeatedly calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

A separate UN News item the same day gives a different count. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN, said at the daily press briefing that the UN welcomed the release of Sami al-Kulabi, a staff member in the office of the UN envoy for Yemen. According to the item, Houthi authorities had held him since June 2024, and he has returned home to his family. Mr. Haq said 71 UN staff members are still detained by the Houthi de facto authorities. He renewed the call for the Houthis to release all remaining detainees immediately and unconditionally. The sources do not say whether the figure of 71 reflects Mr. al-Kulabi’s release from the 72 that WFP cited.

WFP said its teams have provided emergency assistance to more than 115,000 newly displaced people. It said they are preparing to expand this to 1.5 million people when access is restored. The agency said it requires $268 million to sustain operations through 2027. That covers emergency food assistance, nutrition programmes, school meals, resilience activities and humanitarian logistics services.

The sources do not say how WFP arrived at its count of 800,000 people. They do not say which parties control the roads described as blocked, or when the closures around Taiz are expected.