A cease-fire brokered by the United Nations that was to allow the delivery of relief supplies failed to
materialise in Yemen on Saturday, as a Saudi-led military coalition carried out
airstrikes and fighting continued between the Houthi rebels and rival militias in several
cities. Many are saying the international community urgently needs to revisit its posture
on Yemen’s war and put pressure on all parties to end the conflict and address the
humanitarian catastrophe. The UN has designated Yemen a level-three humanitarian crisis,
the highest level in the UN's ranking system. 21 out of 25 million Yemenis are in urgent
need of humanitarian assistance, of which 20 million need immediate access to water and
hygiene and 13 million need food. Relief workers report the situation is deteriorating
rapidly. They cannot get sufficient aid into the country to stop the downward spiral.
Yemeni children are at particular risk. See also: http://www.al-
monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/yemen-houthi-saleh-saudi-arabia-humanitarian-
relief.html