While Gaza headlines dominate, over a million children are suffering from malnutrition in Yemen

While much of the world is focused on the suffering in Gaza, the children of Yemen have for years faced severe malnutrition, with notably less attention, a recent Ynet News report argued.

“Since the Houthis seized large swaths of territory from Yemen’s internationally recognized government in 2014, the country has been devastated by conflict involving a Saudi-led coalition,” the report said.

“Although a ceasefire was brokered in April 2022, fighting resumed late last year after the Houthis joined hostilities against Israel, further worsening the humanitarian disaster.”

The report argued that the suffering in Yemen is “far worse than the hunger situation in Gaza,” and “remains largely overlooked by the international community.”

According to a 2018 report from Save the Children, over 85,000 children may have died of starvation due to the ongoing civil war.

The Save the Children report said that using “data compiled by the UN,” they “evaluated mortality rates for untreated cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in children under five years. Using a conservative estimate, the humanitarian aid agency discovered that approximately 84,701 children with SAM may have died between April 2015 and October 2018.”

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Relief Tom Fletcher said last month that over a million Yemeni children under the age of five currently suffer from “life-threatening acute malnutrition,” and that this number may rise to 1.2 million next year.

In 2018, Save the Children laid part of the blame on tactics used by Saudi Arabia and the UAE in their efforts to support the Yemeni government against the rebel Houthi forces.

“The Saudi and Emirati-led coalition imposed a month-long blockade of Yemen,” the report gave as an example, after which “commercial imports of food through Hodeidah port [were] reduced by more than 55,000 metric tonnes a month.” 

This amount, the report stated, is “enough to meet the needs of 4.4 million people, including 2.2 million children.”

Ynet News, however, quoted a Yemeni source who blames the Houthi rebels, saying that “the Houthis turn international aid into a source of funding for their war effort by stealing supplies and imposing taxes on imports,” which “has left millions vulnerable to starvation and disease.”

“This is the greatest humanitarian tragedy of our time, fueled by a political decision to destabilize Yemen and make it an Iranian proxy,” the source argued.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg told the Associated Press that the effort to resolve the conflict militarily is “a dangerous illusion that risks deepening Yemen’s suffering,” and that the parties involved should pursue a diplomatic solution.

This article originally appeared on ALL ARAB NEWS and is reposted with permission.