Medical services in Taiz, Yemen, are at risk of shutting down due to a shortage of fuel, medicines, and supplies caused by a Houthi blockade. Yemen’s internationally recognized government has issued a warning about an impending health and humanitarian crisis in the besieged city, stating that the Houthis are obstructing essential supplies.
The Ministry of Public Health and Population reported on Saturday that health facilities in Taiz are nearing depletion of medicines, intravenous fluids, medical supplies, and fuel. Emergency care, surgery, intensive care, dialysis, and neonatal services could be forced to stop if the situation persists, endangering patients, injured individuals, pregnant women, and newborns.
Fuel shortages are also threatening electricity generators, ambulances, and the cold chains necessary for keeping medicines and vaccines viable, which could lead to severe complications and preventable deaths, according to the ministry.
The ministry has called for the immediate lifting of the siege and the reopening of supply routes, ensuring safe passage for patients, ambulances, health workers, and aid. It urged the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to deliver essential supplies, including 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 stated.
The Houthis, an armed group supported by Iran and known as Ansar Allah, seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and later established their own government, controlling the northern and northeastern regions of the country.
Taiz experienced a severe Houthi siege from 2015 to 2016, during which Yemeni government forces were confined to an enclave in the city center. Although the siege was broken in 2016, the Houthis maintained a partial blockade through other access points. In 2024, they agreed to reopen a route from the east, but it was closed after fighting resumed. The renewed siege began 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, they had taken the town of At Turbah, severing the last main road between Taiz city and other government-held areas. Yemeni government forces, supported by Saudi Arabia, initiated a counteroffensive in early October.
Nabil Jamil, director-general of the Yemeni government’s planning and development office in the Taiz governorate, informed Al Jazeera that the current siege is “more comprehensive and its impact more severe than in 2015.” He noted that approximately 2.8 million people reside in government-held areas of the governorate, along with 200,000 who have recently been displaced.
Fuel scarcity has led to a significant increase in prices on the black market, with the cost of a 20-litre (5.2-gallon) container of petrol rising from 30,000 Yemeni riyals ($19) to 90,000 ($58).
“We are still waiting for a response or intervention on the ground,” Jamil stated.
The UN refugee agency and the World Health Organization have cautioned that the ongoing fighting is jeopardizing Yemen’s fragile health system. “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 Organization.