UN relocates aid in Yemen, fearing access

0
164

SANAA: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says heavy fighting poses a danger to the warehouses used for humanitarian aid located in Yemen’s port city of Hodeida.
In its daily report, UNOCHA said Tuesday that heavy fighting has engulfed several districts outside of Hodeida city, prompting relief agencies to relocate stocks away from the fighting, from which some warehouses are becoming inaccessible.
The agency said that rapid response assistance is being distributed to newly displaced people.
The UN said on Monday that over 5,200 families have fled for their lives away from the fighting since the Saudi-led coalition started its campaign on June 1 wrest Hodeida from Houthi rebels.
A senior Houthi-linked health official says the Saudi-led coalition has bombed a bus carrying civilians, killing six people on the outskirts of the Yemeni city of Hodeida.
Hodeida is the Red Sea port city where forces backed by the coalition are fighting Shiite Houthi rebels.
Yahia Sharaf Eddin says four of the dead are women and that the Tuesday strike took place in al-Gharasi district, just outside the city.
Earlier in the day, witnesses said, another airstrike killed a tractor driver and his assistant in eastern Hodeida. They said the driver was digging trenches for Houthi fighters.
The Emiratis, who are the major force behind the campaign to take over Hodeida, said they are taking all measures to avoid civilian casualties.
Saudi-led airstrikes on Tuesday heavily bombed Houthi positions and snipers who took over rooftops in Hodeida as forces battled to take control over the airport of the city.