Taiz hospitals near collapse as Houthis tighten siege: Yemen government

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has warned of an “imminent health and humanitarian catastrophe” in the besieged city of Taiz, in the country’s southwest, as the Houthis continue their siege and “obstruct essential supplies”.

Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population said in a statement on Saturday that medicines, intravenous fluids, medical supplies and fuel at the city’s health facilities were “nearing depletion”.

It said emergency care, surgery, intensive care, dialysis and neonatal services could be forced to stop if the situation continued, putting patients, injured people, pregnant women and newborns “at immediate risk”.

Fuel shortages also threaten electricity generators, ambulances and the cold chains that keep medicines and vaccines usable, which could cause “severe complications and preventable deaths”, the ministry said.

It demanded the siege be lifted immediately, and supply routes reopened, with safe passage for patients, ambulances, health workers and aid.

It called on the United Nations and humanitarian organisations to “deliver medicines, intravenous fluids, medical supplies, oxygen and fuel” to the city’s health facilities.

“Every delay increases the risk of service interruption and loss of life,” the ministry said.

UN warns of ‘devastating’ crisis

In an October 2026 report, the United Nations called the humanitarian situation in Taiz “devastating”, as escalating tensions drive up food prices and cause shortages of supplies.

It warned that wheat and flour supplies in the city could run out in less than three weeks, and food prices have reportedly risen by about 50 percent. Cooking gas has become largely unavailable, and petrol prices have tripled.

It added that fuel shortages are putting water supply and health services at risk.

“We continue to urge [the parties] to … uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and to refrain from direct attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and take constant care to spare both civilians and the infrastructure they use,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Disease outbreaks

Across Yemen, escalating conflict and mass displacement have disrupted health services and pushed people into overcrowded shelters with inadequate access to safe water, the UN said.

It added that the country has reported 8,034 suspected cholera cases and 27 deaths this year, a quarter of the cases in the past four weeks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the displacement of 200,000 people across the country since August coincided with a sharp rise in cholera transmission.

More than 22,800 suspected measles cases and 128 deaths have also been reported this year, and vaccination coverage, estimated at 45 percent for each of the two recommended doses, is critically low.

Health facilities already treating thousands of people injured in the fighting are struggling to keep up, the WHO said. About 500 health facilities across nine affected governorates lack support from partners.

“Without urgent funding and unimpeded access to safe water, vaccination and essential health services, outbreaks could spread rapidly among already vulnerable communities,” said Annette Heinzelmann, the WHO’s emergency director for the region.

Taiz remains ‘major battleground’

Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, said southwestern Taiz is a “major battleground” between the Houthis and troops of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Both sides claim to be gaining ground. Mawry said the strategic port city of Mocha remains under Houthi control, while Dhubab district and the Bab al-Mandeb area have become the focus of a government counteroffensive, with both sides claiming control of positions there.

Adam Baron, a fellow at the Future Security Program of the New America think tank, told Al Jazeera that Taiz could become “the real game changer” in the conflict.

But he warned, “it’s not just about military dynamics – the incipient siege on Yemen’s third largest city leaves roughly a million people trapped, creating real risks of a devastating humanitarian crisis.”

Renewed siege

The Houthis, an armed group backed by Iran and also known as Ansar Allah, seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, by force in 2014 and later imposed their own government. They control much of the country’s north.

Taiz endured a devastating Houthi siege between 2015 and 2016, when Yemeni government forces were confined to an enclave in the city centre.

The siege was broken in 2016, though the Houthis kept a partial blockade through other access points. In 2024, they agreed to reopen a route from the east, but it has been closed since fighting resumed.

The renewed siege took shape in early October.

The Houthis launched an offensive along the Red Sea coast of the Taiz governorate in September, capturing the port city of Mocha, and by October 4 had taken the town of al-Turbah, cutting the last main road between Taiz city and other government-held areas.

Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, began a counteroffensive in early October.

Nabil Jamil, director-general of the Yemeni government’s planning and development office in the Taiz governorate, told Al Jazeera the current siege is “more comprehensive and its impact more severe than in 2015”.

He said about 2.8 million people live in government-held areas of the governorate, along with 200,000 who have recently been displaced.

Fuel has become scarce, and on the black market, the price of a 20-litre (5.2-gallon) container of petrol has risen from 30,000 Yemeni riyals ($19) to 90,000 ($58).

“We are still waiting for a response or intervention on the ground,” Jamil said.

The UN refugee agency and the WHO have warned that the fighting is putting Yemen’s fragile health system in peril.

“Civilians must never be turned into a means of exerting pressure in any conflict,” said Nabil Sharyan, a lawyer and head of the Justice for Rights and Development Organisation.