Yemen warns of health crisis as Houthi blockade pushes Taiz hospitals to collapse
Yemen’s internationally recognised government warned of an imminent health and humanitarian catastrophe as a renewed Houthi blockade pushed hospitals in the southwestern city of Taiz to the brink of total collapse, Al Jazeera reported.
Supplies Nearing Depletion Under Tightening Blockade
Medical facilities across Taiz face a critical shortage of fuel, medicines, and intravenous fluids. Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population stated that emergency care, surgeries, intensive care units, dialysis centers, and neonatal wards could shut down entirely if the closure of access routes persists.
Fuel shortages threaten the operation of emergency generators, ambulances, and the cold storage chains required to maintain usable vaccines and medications. The ministry stated that these shortages risk severe medical complications and preventable deaths among patients, injured civilians, pregnant women, and newborns.
Houthis Capture Mocha as Government Forces Counterattack
The Houthis launched an offensive along the Red Sea coast in September, capturing the port city of Mocha before taking the town of At Turbah on October 4. That advance severed the last main road connecting Taiz city to other government-held areas.
Military sources told AFP that Yemeni government forces, backed by air power from Saudi Arabia, launched a counteroffensive in early October to retake lost coastal territory and push back against the Houthi militia. Clashes in western Yemen around the Bab al-Mandab strait killed at least 63 people in a 24-hour period, with military sources reporting 35 dead among government forces and 28 among Houthi ranks.
The current blockade on Taiz is more comprehensive and severe than the punishing siege the city endured between 2015 and 2016, according to Nabil Jamil, director-general of the Yemeni government’s planning and development office in the Taiz governorate. Jamil told Al Jazeera that approximately 2.8 million residents in government-held areas and 200,000 recently displaced individuals face soaring prices, noting that black market petrol costs have tripled from 30,000 Yemeni riyals ($19) to 90,000 ($58) per 20-litre container.
Contested Control of Maritime and Land Corridors
While the Yemeni government reports advances around the Bab al-Mandab strait, Houthi political bureau member Hizam al-Asad disputed those claims, telling AFP that Houthi forces successfully repelled assaults and maintained control over the strait, Mayun Island, and the western coastline.
Humanitarian Toll and Unanswered Demands
The United Nations refugee agency and the World Health Organization warned that ongoing military operations continue to endanger Yemen’s fragile healthcare network, displacing more than 200,000 people since July.
Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health demanded the immediate lifting of the siege, calling on the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to establish safe passages for medical personnel, ambulances, and patients, and to deliver oxygen, fuel, and essential supplies.