The Ministry of Public Health and Population said on Saturday that stocks of medicines, intravenous fluids, medical supplies and fuel at health facilities were nearing depletion, raising the risk of an imminent health and humanitarian crisis, Al Jazeera reported.
Emergency care, surgery, intensive care, dialysis and neonatal services could be forced to suspend operations if supplies are not replenished, the ministry warned. Such disruptions would put patients, wounded people, pregnant women and newborns at immediate risk.
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Fuel shortages are also threatening hospital generators, ambulances and cold-chain systems needed to preserve medicines and vaccines, potentially leading to serious complications and preventable deaths, the ministry said.
It called for the immediate lifting of the siege, the reopening of supply routes and safe passage for patients, ambulances, healthcare workers and humanitarian aid. The ministry also urged the United Nations and humanitarian organisations to deliver medicines, intravenous fluids, oxygen, medical equipment and fuel to the city.
The renewed siege follows an escalation in fighting in Taiz governorate. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and control large parts of the country’s north.
Taiz experienced a devastating siege between 2015 and 2016, when government forces were confined to an enclave in the city centre. Although the siege was broken in 2016, access restrictions persisted through other routes.
In 2024, the Houthis agreed to reopen an eastern access route, but it was closed again after fighting resumed. The latest restrictions intensified in early October following a Houthi offensive along the Red Sea coast of Taiz governorate.
The group captured the port city of Mocha in September and took the town of At Turbah by October 4, cutting the last main road connecting Taiz city with other government-held areas, according to the report.
Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, launched a counteroffensive in early October.
Nabil Jamil, director-general of the government’s planning and development office in Taiz governorate, told Al Jazeera that the current siege was more comprehensive and its impact more severe than the blockade imposed in 2015.
Around 2.8 million people live in government-held areas of the governorate, alongside approximately 200,000 people recently displaced by the fighting, Jamil said.
The restrictions have also driven up fuel prices. A 20-litre container of petrol that previously cost 30,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $19, has risen to 90,000 riyals, equivalent to around $58, on the black market, he said.
“We are still waiting for a response or intervention on the ground,” Jamil told Al Jazeera.
The UN refugee agency and the World Health Organization have warned that the escalating conflict is placing further pressure on Yemen’s already fragile healthcare system.
Nabil Sharyan, a lawyer and head of the Justice for Rights and Development Organization, stressed that civilians must not be used as a means of exerting pressure in armed conflicts.
