PRESS RELEASE

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UN Aid Officials Warn: Thousands Will Die If Saudi Blockade of Yemen Is Not Lifted

Nov. 17, 2017 (EIRNS)—Three UN aid agencies, the World Food Program (WFP), the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), issued a dramatic joint statement yesterday warning that untold thousands of innocent people will die in Yemen unless the Saudi-led military coalition unconditionally lifts its blockade of Yemen’s ports. They said the cost of the blockade was "being measured in the number of lives that are lost." Supplies including medicines, vaccines and food are waiting to enter the country, the agencies said. "Without them, untold thousands of innocent victims, among them many children, will die." The WFP estimates that even with the partial lifting of the blockade, 3.2 million people will be pushed into hunger. If left untreated, 150,000 malnourished children could die within the coming months.

"To deprive this many from the basic means of survival is an unconscionable act and a violation of humanitarian principles and law,"

the joint UN statement said, reported the Guardian.

The Guardian also reports that on Nov. 15, Save the Children said that an estimated 130 Yemeni children or more died every day from extreme hunger and disease, and that the continuing blockade was likely to increase the death rate. More than 50,000 children are thought to have died in Yemen so far in 2017, the international aid group said.