October 11, 2026
The human rights organizations that signed this statement have warned of a dangerous deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Taiz Governorate. This crisis has resulted from the reimposition of a siege by the Houthi militia, including the closure of main and secondary roads and access routes, and the obstruction of food, medicine, and fuel supplies. This comes amid an escalation of military operations launched by the Houthis on September 3. The organizations emphasized that these ongoing restrictions threaten the lives of millions of civilians and risk the collapse of essential services. They held the Houthi militia responsible for imposing the siege and for its humanitarian consequences, demanding that the siege be lifted immediately and that indiscriminate attacks on the city and its residential neighborhoods cease.
According to data obtained by Rights Radar for Human Rights, the population of the affected districts is approximately 4,352,600, in addition to a large number of internally displaced people. Available information indicates that road closures have disrupted the movement of goods and transportation, depleted food stocks, driven up the prices of basic commodities, and reduced families’ ability to access food, water, and medical care.
Taiz Governorate requires approximately 12,352,500 liters of gasoline and 9,720,000 liters of diesel per month to sustain transportation and operate essential facilities. Shortages of petroleum products have disrupted fuel supplies at service stations and driven up transportation costs, while also threatening the continued operation of hospitals, health centers, and water-pumping systems. These shortages have further increased the risk of depriving the population of essential services necessary for survival.
In a statement issued on October 10, 2026, the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population warned of an imminent health and humanitarian disaster in the city of Taiz. The Ministry noted that health facilities were running critically low on medicines, intravenous fluids, medical supplies, and fuel due to the ongoing blockade and the obstruction of supply routes.
The Ministry of Public Health and Population has emphasized that this dangerous situation threatens to bring emergency services, surgical procedures, intensive care, dialysis, and neonatal care to a halt, placing patients, the wounded, pregnant women, and newborns in immediate danger. Furthermore, fuel shortages threaten to disable electricity generators, ambulances, and cold-chain systems for medicines and vaccines, potentially resulting in serious complications and preventable deaths.
The Ministry held the Houthi militia responsible for the siege and its consequences, calling for supply routes to be reopened and safe passage guaranteed for patients, ambulances, and medical personnel. It also called on the United Nations and health partners to urgently deliver medicines, intravenous fluids, oxygen, medical supplies, and fuel in coordination with the Ministry and Taiz Governorate’s health office, while prioritizing life-saving services.
Regarding the water sector, the local water utility requires approximately 20,000 liters of diesel per month to operate wells and pump water. Rights Radar and Human Rights warned that fuel shortages, difficulties in transporting water by tanker, and deteriorating sanitation systems threaten access to safe water and increase the risk of disease outbreaks, particularly in areas densely populated by displaced people.
According to requirements assessments obtained by Rights Radar
, securing food stocks for approximately three million people for six months requires nearly 189,000 tons of wheat and flour, 36,000 tons of rice, 32,400 tons of sugar, 16,500 tons of cooking oil, and 61,500 tons of milk, in addition to meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, and other food items.
Emergency requirements also include 33 million liters of gasoline, 21 million liters of diesel, and more than 5.5 million domestic gas cylinders. These figures represent planning and response estimates rather than actual market deficits and differ in scope from estimates of the governorate’s monthly consumption.
The organizations emphasized that limited strategic reserves and ongoing supply-chain disruptions undermine the market’s ability to compensate for food shortages. Meanwhile, rising prices and declining incomes force the poorest households to reduce essential goods, exacerbating deprivation among children, women, sick people, and displaced people.
The organizations stressed that Article 14 of Additional Protocol II to the 1977 Geneva Conventions prohibits the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and, to that end, prohibits the destruction or rendering useless of objects indispensable to their survival, including food supplies and drinking-water installations. Furthermore, Article 18 governs humanitarian relief operations, while customary international humanitarian law requires parties to an armed conflict to allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief, subject to their right of control and without arbitrary obstruction.
The organizations also emphasized the prohibitions on directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects and on conducting indiscriminate attacks, as well as the obligation to observe the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution. They affirmed that the presence of military objectives within the city does not deprive its inhabitants of protection or justify starving them or subjecting them to collective punishment. They called for investigations into the attacks and the obstruction of supplies, the identification of those responsible for issuing and carrying out orders, and an examination of individual criminal liability and command responsibility in accordance with the available evidence and applicable law.
Urgent Demands
The organizations call on the Houthi militia to immediately lift the siege, cease indiscriminate attacks and attacks against civilians and civilian objects, reopen main and secondary roads to residents, commercial vehicles, humanitarian relief convoys, and ambulances, and ensure the delivery of food, medicine, fuel, and water without arbitrary delay.
The organizations also call on the Yemeni government and local authorities, in coordination with UN agencies and humanitarian partners, to prepare and implement an emergency response plan to address the consequences of the siege. The plan should be based on an urgent needs assessment and specify intervention priorities, responsible parties, required funding, and an implementation timeline. It must ensure access to food, medicine, fuel, and essential services, including healthcare, water pumping, and ambulance services, while securing reserve stocks and safe supply routes, with priority given to displaced people, the poorest families, and the most vulnerable groups.
Furthermore, the organizations call on UN agencies and donors to provide funding and urgently deliver supplies, as well as to monitor the status of hospitals, water systems, and food stocks. They urge the UN Special Envoy and influential international actors to press for the lifting of the siege and an end to indiscriminate attacks. They also call on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant mechanisms to document and investigate violations and ensure accountability.
Finally, the organizations emphasized that protecting civilians requires immediate, concrete action and that food, water, medicine, and healthcare must not be used as instruments of military pressure or political bargaining.
Signatory Organizations:
Rights Radar for Human Rights
SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties
American Center for Justice
Abductees’ Mothers Association
Difa’ Foundation for Rights and Liberties
Yemeni Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations (Rasd)
Insaf Center for Rights and Development – Aden
Musawah Organization for Rights and Liberties
Shohood Organization for Human Rights
Mayyun Organization for Human Rights
Irada Organization against Torture and Enforced Disappearance
National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD)
Yemeni Network for Victims Associations (YNV)
Rased Organization for Rights and Freedoms
DY YAMNT for Rights and Development
