The complaint

The Houthis’ rampage is taking a heavy toll on children. Since August, over 110 civilians have been killed and 350 injured. Essential services are on the verge of collapse

The suspension of healthcare services, affecting over 147,000 women, the closure of 120 healthcare facilities and the halt to waste management have led to the spread of disease. Cases of dengue fever and cholera have been reported.

by Tawfik al-Hamidi

12 November 2026

Aggiungi Il Sole 24 Ore
ai preferiti su Google

Una madre yemenita sfollata raccoglie legna da ardere in un edificio danneggiato dove vive con i suoi figli dopo i bombardamenti a Taiz REUTERS/Anees Mahyoub

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The governorate of Taiz, in south-western Yemen, has been facing an humanitarian and human rights crisis that has grown increasingly severe since the military escalation led by the Houthi group in August 2026. According to findings by our organisation, SAM for Rights and Freedoms, over 110 civilians have been killed, more than 350 have been injured and over 70 homes have been hit. All this is taking place against the backdrop of the siege that the group has been imposing since 2015 on a city with over a million inhabitants, including hundreds of thousands of women and children. Blocked roads and shortages of food, water and fuel have become a constant threat to the lives of the population.

The attack on civilians

The SAM report, covering the period from 1 August to 4 November, shows how bombardments of homes, markets and escape routes are intertwined with restrictions on the movement of civilians and the transit of supplies, exacerbating the disruption to essential services. We hold the Houthis responsible for violations that have been definitively attributed to their forces and for the unlawful restrictions imposed in areas under their control. For incidents where responsibility is disputed, we call for immediate and independent investigations.

According to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as at 27 October, 263 civilian casualties had been documented across 103 incidents: 67 dead and 196 injured. Among the casualties were 97 children. In a separate set of statistics, the health coordination group led by the World Health Organisation had recorded, as of 30 October, approximately 9,730 people killed or injured in connection with the conflict: 1,771 deaths and 7,959 injured. These latest figures do not relate exclusively to civilians and do not allow all casualties to be attributed to a single party.

Children killed by bombs

The documented incidents illustrate the scale of the tragedy. In October, three members of the same family, including a six-year-old girl with a disability, were killed when Houthi forces bombed a house in the village of al-Sarm, in the al-Aqroud area. On 27 October, SAM reported that Houthi forces had fired over two hundred rockets and artillery shells at the villages of Kahlan within the space of a few hours. On 1 November, Layan Shaif Ali Abdu, an eight-year-old girl, was killed in a Houthi drone strike on her family’s home in the Old Airport neighbourhood.

On 2 November, a Houthi airstrike on the al-Najd market in the village of al-Makhaf left nine people dead, including eight children, according to an initial local list of victims. Four days later, an attack on the popular al-Hadara market in the al-Wazi‘iyah district claimed dozens of lives. Local authorities blamed the Houthis, stating that no air operations had been carried out in the district on the day of the attack. The group, however, attributed the bombing to the Saudi air force.

We call for the remains of the munitions and the accounts of survivors to be examined in order to establish responsibility through an independent investigation. The recurrence of attacks targeting markets and homes raises serious concerns about respect for the protection to which civilians are entitled.

The escalation has been accompanied by large-scale displacement. The International Organisation for Migration recorded 299,335 displaced people, comprising 49,883 households, between August and the end of October. In the cumulative total since June, Taiz has taken in around 133,800 displaced people, whilst others have moved to Lahj and Aden, where there is a shortage of accommodation and services.

The tactics of the siege

The siege, however, remains one of the most serious aspects of the crisis. The Houthi forces control vital roads and access routes around the city and impose restrictions on the movement of people, goods and medical supplies. On 5 November, the local authorities stated that the quantities of food and essential goods entering the city amounted to no more than 15 per cent of normal levels.

At the height of the restrictions, the prices of some products rose to three or five times their usual levels. The cost of a 6,000-litre water tanker reached around 90,000 Yemeni rials, whilst the suspension of well operations and fuel shortages hampered the pumping and transport of water.

Figures released by the Health Office on 2 November indicate that, in the districts included in the assessment and controlled by the Houthis, 120 healthcare facilities had ceased operations entirely and 66 were operating only partially. Services at a further twelve hospitals and eighteen health centres were also at risk. Only 5 per cent of the required fuel, 2 per cent of the oxygen and 30 per cent of medicines and first-aid supplies were available.

The risks have been exacerbated by attacks on medical transport attributed to Houthi forces. On 20 October, according to information gathered on the ground by SAM, the ambulance driver Hossam Numan Abdullah Abduljalil was killed in a Houthi attack on an ambulance in the al-Shaqab area.

Around 420 patients rely on the dialysis centre at al-Thawra Hospital. However, more than thirty patients living outside the city have been unable to reach the centre for their treatment sessions, whilst deliveries of dialysis solutions have been delayed by weeks.

The suspension of treatment affects 147,600 women

The United Nations Population Fund has reported that over 147,600 women and girls, including more than 13,100 pregnant women, have been affected by the disruption to reproductive health services. Of the 27 facilities designated for obstetric and neonatal emergencies, only five remained operational, and even then only partially. At the Yemeni-Swedish Hospital, the number of functioning incubators fell from forty to ten due to a lack of fuel and oxygen.

The crisis does not stop at the gates of hospitals. Houthi checkpoints have prevented refuse collection vehicles from reaching waste disposal sites, leading to a build-up of rubbish in neighbourhoods. The city produces between 500 and 550 tonnes of rubbish every day.

The risk of epidemics

According to data from the Health Office updated as at 1 November, suspected cases of dengue have risen by 26 per cent and those of watery diarrhoea by 22 per cent, whilst the average weekly number of medical consultations has fallen by 27 per cent. Furthermore, the proportion of cholera cases recorded in the city out of the governorate’s total has risen from 57 per cent to 77 per cent, despite the overall decline in cases across the governorate.

Education has also been hit hard. The Ministry of Human Rights announced that, by the end of September, 243 schools had ceased operations, affecting over 140,000 pupils. As SAM, we warn against the use of schools for military purposes and the recruitment of children. We also condemn the Houthis’ attempts to replace Yemen’s shared national identity with religious and ideological content linked to the group, thereby reinforcing sectarian and political loyalties at the expense of citizenship and pluralism.

The extent of the losses cannot be separated from the way in which control over the territory is exercised. Checkpoints that delay the passage of fuel and medicines prolong the journey of the wounded to medical care, drive up the cost of water and food, and leave displaced families with increasingly limited options.

Against a backdrop of insufficient humanitarian funding, emergency aid is increasingly unable to compensate for the collapse of services. This is why keeping the roads open on a regular basis is not just an economic necessity: it is an essential measure for saving lives.

A report on human rights violations

We call for every death and every injury to be documented individually, through the examination of medical records, bullet entry points and chains of command. This process must ensure that the same names are not counted more than once in the casualty figures and must safeguard the families’ right to the truth, justice and redress.

We believe that attacks against civilians and civilian property, the use of starvation as a method of warfare, and the unlawful restrictions on goods essential for survival imposed by Houthi forces constitute violations of international humanitarian law. Some of these acts may amount to war crimes. The Houthi group must cease its attacks, lift the siege, open the roads and protect hospitals and schools. The United Nations and the European Union must take decisive diplomatic action that goes beyond aid and statements of concern.

The suffering in Taiz is not limited to the death toll. It also includes the patient denied dialysis, the child missing out on school or access to an incubator, and the family that can no longer afford to buy water. This tragedy will not end without the protection of civilians, the lifting of the siege and the restoration of their rights to life, health, safety and dignity.

Tawfik al-Hamidi, a Yemeni lawyer and president of the SAM Organisation for Rights and Freedoms