Over the past year in Yemen, 50,000 children have died from famine and disease. The starvation caused by the current war has reached a critical and deadly level. For more than two years, Saudi Arabia has conducted an aggressive military campaign against the Houthis rebels, causing enormous suffering in what is currently the poorest nation in the Arab world. The high rate of civilian casualty has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises of the moment.

In recent weeks, the tensions with Riyadh have increased after a rebel missile targeting the capital was shot down. Saudi Arabia reacted quickly and created a total blockade on the country’s air, sea and land ports, making it virtually impossible for any kind of external help. The difficulties in providing minimal humanitarian assistance is leaving the population on its own, while the lack of reliable access to food and water has led to a significant outbreak of cholera, which is already responsible of thousands of deaths.

The United Nations officials said that the lives of at least 20 million people, with more than half being children, are at stake, with 7 million being totally dependent on food assistance. Several international organizations, namely the United Nation children’s agency and the World Food Program, have denounced the inhumane conditions in which the citizens–especially children–are forced to live in.

Saudi Arabia has since agreed on a partial lifting of the blockade, but officials say that approximately 150 malnourished children are dying every day, and if the situation does not come to a suitable end for the population, 150,000 more may also die in the month to come.

For more information, read:
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/11/22/16680392/saudi-arabia-yemen-blockade-famine-casualties
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-save-the-children-yemen-20171116-story.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-civil-war-internally-displaced-families_us_5703bfd4e4b0a06d5806d6b6