SANAA,
Yemen — As tons of desperately needed medical supplies await clearance
to be flown into Yemen, aid workers warned Tuesday of an unfolding
humanitarian crisis, saying at least 560 people, including dozens of
children, have been killed, mostly in a Saudi-led air campaign and
battles between Shiite rebels and forces loyal to the embattled
president.
More
than 1,700 people have been wounded and another 100,000 have fled their
homes as fighting intensified over the past three weeks, the World
Health Organization said.
The
Red Cross shipment would be the first to reach Yemen since the start of
the Saudi-imposed air blockade. Sitara Jabeen, a Geneva-based
spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said a
cargo plane with 17 tons of medical supplies was in the Jordanian
capital, Amman, awaiting the go-ahead from coalition forces to land in
Sanaa, hopefully on Wednesday. Another 35 tons of supplies were also
ready for shipment, she said.
"If these medical supplies do not reach Yemen, then unfortunately we are afraid many more people will die," Jabeen said.
She
said a surgical team was also awaiting clearance to dock in the
embattled Yemeni port of Aden, where heavy fighting Monday left streets
littered with bodies.
The
fighting pits allies of Yemen's president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi,
against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and allied
military units loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The
Saudi-led air campaign, which supports Hadi, now in its 13th day, so
far has failed to stop the Houthis' advance on Aden, Yemen's
second-largest city, which was declared the provisional capital by Hadi
before he fled the country for Saudi Arabia as the rebels closed in two
weeks ago.
WHO
said Tuesday that at least 560 people have been killed and 1,768
wounded — many of them civilians — since the rebels and their allies
launched an intensified land grab on March 19. Among the fatalities are
at least 293 people killed since the March 26 start of the Saudi-led air
campaign in support of Hadi.
The
dead include at least 74 children killed since the start of the
airstrikes, the U.N. children's agency said. At least 44 children have
been wounded.
Comprehensive
casualty figures are difficult to collect and verify because of the
ongoing violence, and aid agencies warned the overall death toll is
likely far higher.
The
Saudi campaign has turned Yemen into a new proxy war between the
kingdom and Iran, which has backed the Houthis, though Tehran denies
aiding the rebels militarily.
Civilians have paid a heavy toll for the violence that mushroomed from an internal power struggle into a regional war.
Children have been especially vulnerable, said UNICEF's Yemen representative, Julien Harneis.
"They
are being killed, maimed and forced to flee their homes, their health
threatened and their education interrupted," Harneis said in a
statement, released Monday. Warring factions have also increased their
recruitment of children under the age of 18.
Humanitarian
groups say they are running out of supplies and have called for a
temporary halt to the fighting to allow medical teams and fresh medical
supplies to arrive in the country and for residents to identify and bury
their dead.
UNICEF
said the violence has disrupted water supplies in areas of southern
Yemen and that sewage is overflowing in some locations, raising the risk
of outbreaks of disease. Water systems have been repeatedly damaged in
Aden and two other areas, UNICEF said, adding that it is providing fuel
for water pumps.
Hospitals
are struggling to treat large numbers of wounded with insufficient
supplies and some medical facilities have come under attack, the agency
said.
On
Tuesday, Saudi-led coalition jets bombed a rebel-allied military
installation in southern Yemen as local tribes battled the Shiite
fighters and their allies in the area, seizing a makeshift camp and
weapons, Yemeni military officials said.
A
medical volunteer in southern Ibb province said the airstrikes hit a
Republican Guard camp, wounding at least 25 Saleh loyalists.
Residents
say the camp was close to a school, and the rebel television station,
al-Masirah, said three children were killed in the airstrike. The
medical volunteer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of
reprisals, could not confirm the children's deaths.
About
30 miles (50 kilometers) south of the camp, local tribes battled with
Houthis who had set up a makeshift camp in the area, driving the rebels
away and seizing their weapons, a local resident said, also speaking on
condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Fighting
intensified in Aden on Monday, with the rebels and their allies making
their strongest push yet to seize control of the city, a main stronghold
of Hadi supporters.
The
fighting has raised doubts over the possibility of landing ground
forces from the Saudi-led coalition to carve out a secure enclave for
the return of Hadi.
"Conditions
are very dangerous right now," UNICEF's Dr. Gamila Hibatullah in Aden
was quoted as saying. "Hospitals are overflowing, and even ambulances
have been hijacked."
In
Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed a joint session of
parliament convened to debate whether Pakistan would join the Saudi-led
coalition.
Sharif warned Iran to "ponder upon its policy and consider whether that policy is correct or not."
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