Sanaa government said that the Saudi-led coalition’s broad restrictions are worsening the country’s humanitarian catastrophe.

During a joint press conference with the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Acting Minister of Human Rights in the Sanaa government, Ali Al-Dailami, stressed that "the international community has entered a dangerous phase of deliberate politicization of Yemen's catastrophic humanitarian situation as a result of the Saudi-led aggression and blockade."

"As a result of a serious deterioration in real disposable income, the siege of the aggression caused the suspension of salaries of more than one and a quarter million government employees, amounting to approximately 74 billion riyals per month, and the cost of living increased by more than 90 percent than it was before the aggression."

Al-Dailami explained that the salaries of more than 1.25 million public sector employees have been suspended due to the Saudi-led coalition. “Simultaneously, the cost of living increased over 90% than it was before”, he tersely stated.

He went on to say that "the Saudi-led blockade and aggression prevented over 40,000 fishermen from fishing in the Red Sea coast not to mention that the number of fishermen killed is estimated to be over 500, and over 1,000 fishermen arrested."

The Saudi-led coalition affected over 92% of Yemeni families that do not have adequate resources to obtain basic needs, Al-Dailami said.

Al-Dailami highlighted that “the number of malnourished people increased dramatically during the years of aggression, including one million and two hundred thousand women, half of whom are pregnant." 

He also added that "half of Yemen's children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition after the number of infected children reached nearly 2.3 million."

See more: 19,000,000+ Yemenis are facing hunger: OCHA

In the same context, the air blockade has caused 25 airlines to cease operations as per the acting Minister of Human Rights.

In his remarks, Al-Dailami said that they continually warned the United Nations against exploiting the humanitarian situation for political pressure by the Saudi-led coalition.”

He also criticized the limited flights within Yemen's UN-brokered truce, which expires on Tuesday, pointing out that during the truce period, flights through Sanaa airport contributed to alleviating the suffering of only 2% number of patients in need of treatment abroad.

On his account, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Obaid Salem bin Dabie said that "the blockade has deprived 10 million poor people of assistance provided by the Social Welfare Fund."

According to UN estimates, the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen has created one of the world's worst man-made humanitarian crises, with nearly 80% of the country's population in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million in danger of famine.

The war on Yemen and the Saudi-led coalition's blockade of the poverty-stricken country is the main driving force behind the hunger crisis - the situation is likely to worsen with the most recent war in Ukraine, which is the source of 30% of Yemen's wheat imports.