Sana’a, Oct 15.(dpa/GNA) – A search for basic necessities has become a daily struggle for residents of Yemen’s Taiz, where renewed fighting and disrupted supply routes are deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis.
“We have embarked on an exhausting search for a domestic gas cylinder, or even flour and water, while living with constant anxiety and worry,” said Um Omar, a Yemeni woman in her 30s and mother of three who lives in Taiz.
Many goods have disappeared from local markets, leaving families struggling to secure the basics, she told dpa on Thursday.
The deterioration comes amid renewed fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi militia, which resumed in July after nearly four years of relative calm.
United Nations reports cited in the local coverage put the number of people displaced by the latest escalation at more than 217,000, with thousands killed or wounded.
The fighting has heightened fears of further displacement and worsening shortages in a country already enduring one of the world’s most severe humanitarian and economic crises.Taiz, a densely populated city in south-western Yemen near the strategically important Bab al-Mandab (Gate of Tears) Strait, has been particularly affected.
The Houthis have imposed a blockade on the governorate’s entry points after taking control of several areas, restricting movement and complicating the delivery of essential supplies.
“The blockade of Taiz has tightened considerably, and people are no longer able to enter or leave the densely populated city,” Um Omar said. She expressed hope that the war would end and residents could return to safe, normal lives.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday that escalating conflict had cut off life-saving assistance to around 800,000 people.
Shifting front lines, road closures and growing insecurity were severely restricting humanitarian access to Taiz and other conflict-affected areas, it said.
The agency and its partners could no longer reach more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian assistance, including over 200,000 women and children.
Including communities cut off along Yemen’s western coast, this brought the total number of people beyond the programme’s reach to 800,000. The WFP said 10 of Taiz’s 16 districts had previously been classified at the emergency level of food insecurity.
Its latest monitoring indicated that flour stocks were nearly depleted and remaining food supplies in local markets might last only a short time if access restrictions continued.
For Hamdi Abdullah, a private-sector employee in Taiz, shortages of fuel and water have compounded the hardship. He said diesel and other essential services had become increasingly scarce, while continued clashes in the al-Dhabab area west of the city had disrupted water supplies.
Several wells in the area supply Taiz, making the fighting particularly damaging to residents’ access to water. The blockade has also worsened shortages of flour, cooking gas and other goods, Abdullah told dpa.
“The situation has become unbearable. We are living in a state of great anxiety and have no one to turn to but God,” he said.
Rising transport costs have further pushed up prices, while community activist Ali al-Sabri said shortages of wheat and flour were raising fears that families would be unable to meet their basic needs. He also accused some traders of hoarding goods, reducing supplies available in local markets.
Water has become increasingly difficult to obtain. Some small shops are selling it by the litre and limiting quantities according to household size, al-Sabri said, warning that continued shortages and rising prices could further deteriorate living conditions. For some families, remaining in Taiz has become too difficult.
Abdullah al-Haj said shelling and fears that the Houthis might take control of the city forced him to leave with his family for Aden, where he had hoped to find greater safety after living in Taiz for decades.
The journey took 17 hours along several roads and through numerous checkpoints. The psychological strain left him unable to sleep for three consecutive nights, he said.
In Aden, he had to pay 50,000 Yemeni rials ($35) a day to stay in a hotel despite his difficult financial circumstances. Al-Haj said he was saddened by the deterioration in Taiz and across Yemen, hoping the country could return to peace and an end to the cycle of fighting, fear and displacement.
For residents still in Taiz, however, immediate concerns remain more basic: finding food, obtaining clean water and securing the fuel needed to keep households running as renewed conflict further restricts access to essential supplies.
GNA