Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

‘Catastrophic hunger’: Charity urges truce extension in Yemen

‘Catastrophic hunger’: Charity urges truce extension in Yemen

Two-month truce is set to expire on Wednesday, prompting calls for an end to ‘the cycle of violence and suffering’.

The international charity Oxfam has urged Yemen’s warring sides to extend a two-month truce, appealing to the parties to the conflict to work together to avoid “catastrophic hunger” in the war-wrecked country.

Oxfam said on Tuesday that the United Nations-brokered ceasefire is essential for millions of Yemenis suffering from a lack of basic services and soaring prices of food and other goods.

The charity’s Yemen director, Ferran Puig, said the truce has brought a “long overdue sense of hope that we can break the cycle of violence and suffering in Yemen”.

A Saudi-led coalition, the internationally recognised Yemeni government, and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels agreed to a truce that started on April 2, which expires on Wednesday night.

“The opportunity must be seized to extend the truce and push for a lasting peace if we are to avert the risk of millions of Yemenis being forced into acute hunger,” Puig said.

More than three dozen aid groups working in Yemen have joined Oxfam’s appeal, saying in a joint statement addressed to the warring sides that “the gift for a better life for the people of Yemen is in your hands”.

The truce has been the first nationwide ceasefire in the past six years of Yemen’s civil war.


The fighting erupted in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels descended from their northern enclave of Sadah and took over the capital of Sanaa, forcing the government to flee. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.

In recent weeks, the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has intensified efforts to renew the truce. He tweeted on Monday that an extension was “critical to solidify benefits delivered so far and provide space to move towards a political settlement”.

However, Grundberg’s efforts have been hobbled by the Houthis’ refusal to lift their ground blockade of the largely government-held city of Taiz, Yemen’s third largest.

The provisions of the truce included reopening the roads around Taiz, establishing two commercial flights a week between Sanaa and Jordan and Egypt, and also allowing 18 vessels carrying fuel into the port of Hodeidah. Both Sanaa and Hodeidah are controlled by the rebels.

Fighting, air strikes and bombardment have subsided during the truce, which started in early April, and the rebels have ceased their cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two pillars of the Saudi-led coalition.

The UN estimates that more than 377,000 people have died due to the conflict as of late 2021, adding that the war in Yemen has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN has also warned that 19 million people of Yemen’s population of 32 million would face hunger in 2022, including 160,000 likely to suffer from “famine-like conditions”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as it hit global food supplies and sent food prices soaring. Yemen imports 90 percent of its food, including at least 42 percent of its wheat from Ukraine, Oxfam said.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×