Mohammed Sami and Lina Altawell
13 November 2026•Update: 13 November 2026
More than 333,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the beginning of August amid an escalation in fighting, including over 24,000 in the past week alone, the UN said Thursday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said civilians “continue to pay a heavy price as violence damages health facilities, forces families from their homes, and hinders the work of humanitarians.”
Since Oct. 5, the Yemeni government has been carrying out the “Dawn of Yemen” military operation, which Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi said aims to restore state institutions from the Houthi group and regain control of the capital Sanaa.
The UN Human Rights Office has verified 289 civilian casualties since the beginning of August, including 72 people killed and 217 injured, OCHA said.
Children accounted for half of those killed, while women and children together made up nearly two-thirds of the total casualties.
Health facilities have also been affected by the fighting.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Al-Saqiya Health Center in Lahj province was destroyed by a ballistic missile on Nov. 1, killing three health workers and injuring four.
Four days later, two health facilities in Taiz city were damaged, putting essential health services at risk for around 12,000 people.
Since the escalation began, 28 health facilities and seven ambulances have been damaged or destroyed, while 13 health workers have been killed or injured, according to WHO figures cited by OCHA.
Displacement continues to increase, with Taiz province hosting the largest displaced population, estimated at more than 140,000 people.
Movement in Taiz city also remains restricted, OCHA said, adding that local authorities reported that only a small shipment of around 400 bags of wheat flour was allowed through on Wednesday.
Restrictions on access routes have disrupted commercial transport, led to commodity shortages and increased market instability, while local banks have reportedly restricted individual cash withdrawals.
Despite the difficulties, humanitarian partners have reached more than 255,000 displaced people, most of them women and children.
On Tuesday, aid groups provided drinking water and water storage containers to more than 6,200 people in Taiz and Aden and delivered 11 trucks carrying emergency medical supplies to hospitals.
OCHA renewed its call for the protection of civilians and for “safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Yemen,” including Taiz city.
The “Dawn of Yemen” operation comes amid a broader military escalation that began in July, the largest since the relative calm that followed a UN-brokered truce that began in April 2022.
Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis captured Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.