Yemen’s besieged Taiz is in famine, governor says, as 13 are killed by Saudi airstrike

A Saudi airstrike in western Taiz killed at least 13 people on Thursday, according to the Houthi-run health ministry, as local officials reported that a siege of the Yemeni city by Houthi rebels has pushed residents into famine. Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan stated that the city is in famine, not on the brink of it, and that the Houthis cannot use the siege to justify the humanitarian catastrophe they are causing civilians.

The siege, which started in early October, has caused the city, which hosts about 1 million people, to receive only a fraction of the water it needs, block cooking gas, and nearly exhaust hospitals' oxygen supplies. The World Food Program stated that it could not reach over 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian aid, and that wheat flour stocks were nearly exhausted.

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