DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — More than 11,000
children are known to have been killed or maimed in
Yemen's civil war since it
escalated nearly eight years ago, the UN said Monday.
اضافة اعلان
"The true toll of this conflict is likely to be far
higher," said the children's agency UNICEF about the casualties of the
world's worst humanitarian crisis.
"Thousands of children have lost their lives, hundreds
of thousands more remain at risk of death from preventable disease or
starvation," said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.
About 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished,
one quarter of them aged under five, and most are at extreme risk from cholera,
measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases,
UNICEF said.
Yemen's war broke out in 2014 and quickly saw Iran-backed Houthi
rebels seize the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop
up the government the following year.
Hundreds of thousands have died since, either as a result of
fighting or indirectly through unsafe drinking water, disease outbreaks, hunger
and other impacts.
The agency's latest numbers confirm 3,774 child deaths
between March 2015 and September 2022.
A UN-brokered truce lasted for six months until October 2,
but warring parties then failed to agree on an extension.
Since then at least 62 children have been killed or wounded,
said UNICEF.
"The urgent renewal of the truce would be a positive
first step that would allow critical humanitarian access," Russell said.
"Ultimately, only a sustained peace will allow families
to rebuild their shattered lives and begin to plan for the future."
The UN agency also said 3,904 boys had been recruited into
the fighting over the years, and that more than 90 girls had been given roles
including working at checkpoints.
UNICEF appealed for $484.4 million in funding to tackle the
humanitarian crisis.
"If the children of Yemen are to have any chance of a
decent future... all those with influence must ensure they are protected and
supported," said Russell.
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