Battle for Yemen’s port Hodeida threatens dozens of children in hospital – UN

The battle for the Yemeni port city of Hodeida is endangering the lives of dozens of hospitalized children, the United Nations’ children's agency said Tuesday. Intense fighting in Hodeida is “now dangerously close to Al-Thawra hospital – putting the lives of 59 children, including 25 in the intensive care unit, at imminent risk of death,” UNICEF said, according to AFP. One year after a Saudi coalition imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports temporarily halting life-saving supplies, Yemenis are still living a “never-ending nightmare,” low on food and fuel, Reuters quoted Jan Egeland, a former UN aid chief who now heads the Norwegian Refugee Council, as saying on Tuesday. At the end of 2017, the Saudi-led coalition imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports which it said was to prevent Houthis from importing weapons. This had a severe impact on Yemen, which traditionally imports 90 percent of its food.