Yemen’s Children Lose Homes and Classrooms as Fighting Forces People to Flee

Fighting in western Taiz, southern Hudaydah, Marib and other affected areas is disrupting services that children depend on for their health and development.

Families across Yemen are being forced to leave their homes with whatever they can carry as renewed fighting takes children's lives and cuts access to classrooms, health care and safe water. UNICEF says more than 104,000 people, including over 57,000 children, have been displaced in just two weeks, deepening a humanitarian crisis that had already left millions of children facing hunger, interrupted schooling and repeated displacement.

Since 3 September, at least nine children have been reported killed and 12 injured, with three others reported missing following an attack on the road connecting Yemen's western coast to Aden. For families trying to find safety, the latest violence brings fresh uncertainty about where they can shelter, how they will get treatment and whether their children can return to school.

School Closures and Health Disruptions Strip Away Daily Security

Fighting in western Taiz, southern Hudaydah, Marib and other affected areas is disrupting services that children depend on for their health and development. Twenty-six UNICEF-supported health facilities have experienced service interruptions, and 243 schools have closed or suspended learning, affecting more than 137,000 students whose education is being interrupted by the escalation.

Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, described children who have already endured years of hunger, displacement and disrupted education losing the little stability they had left. His warning reflects the pressure on families facing another forced move, with the loss of a familiar home compounded by uncertainty over medical care, schooling and basic necessities.

Emergency Teams Bring Water, Nutrition and Protection to Families

UNICEF is expanding its emergency response to reach up to 231,000 people affected by the fighting, with assistance already underway in several locations. Health facilities are receiving support, hygiene kits and water tanks have been distributed in Taiz, and additional water and hygiene supplies have reached Marib. Nine mobile health and nutrition teams have been redeployed to displacement sites and affected communities in Aden, Marib and Taiz to bring care closer to families.

Emergency water and sanitation assistance is intended to reach more than 200,000 people through safe water, hygiene supplies and urgent repairs to damaged systems. Child protection teams are providing psychosocial care and case management, including support for children separated from their families or travelling without caregivers, and helping communities understand and reduce the dangers posed by explosive ordnance.

Families Cross the Sea as Existing Needs Grow More Urgent

The impact extends across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where more than 2,000 people, including many children, have arrived in Djibouti after a dangerous crossing involving extreme heat, dehydration and protection risks. UNICEF is working with authorities to provide safe water, hygiene and sanitation services, child protection support and referrals for the most vulnerable children among the newly arrived families.

Yemen entered this escalation with an estimated 12.2 million children needing humanitarian assistance and more than 2.2 million children under five suffering from acute malnutrition, including over 515,000 with severe acute malnutrition. Some 3.2 million school-aged children were already out of school, around 17.8 million people lacked adequate access to health care, water and sanitation services, and only 60 per cent of health facilities were fully functional.

UNICEF has repeated the UN Secretary-General's call for all parties to protect civilians, including children, respect international humanitarian law and allow safe, unimpeded humanitarian access. Families displaced by the fighting need assistance to reach them urgently, as every additional disruption places greater pressure on their ability to keep children safe, nourished and connected to care.