Yemen Hospitals Deliberately Targeted in 100 Attacks since March: ICRC
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The International Committee of the Red Cross said hospitals in Yemen have been repeatedly and "deliberately" attacked, and urged warring factions to respect the sanctity of health facilities.
It said in a statement that Al-Thawra hospital in third city Taez was shelled on Sunday, weeks after a hospital run by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres was hit in the north, AFP reported on Tuesday.
"Al-Thawra hospital, one of the main health care facilities in Taez which is providing treatment for about 50 injured people every day, was reportedly shelled several times on Sunday," it said.
"The shelling endangered the lives of patients and staff on site," said the ICRC deputy head in Yemen, Kedir Awol Omar.
The Red Cross said there have been "close to a hundred similar" accidents reported since March, when a Saudi-led coalition launched an air war to restore power to Yemen's former fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
"Health facilities are deliberately attacked and surgical and medical supplies are also being blocked from reaching hospitals in areas under siege," said Omar.
In October, airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit the Hayadeen hospital run near the Houthi-held city of Saadah in northern Yemen, with MSF posting pictures on its Twitter account showing a collapsed roof and rubble.
MSF said there were no deaths, but rights group Amnesty International reported at the time that seven staff members were wounded.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon later denounced the airstrikes which he said were carried out by warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition.
The ICRC said attacks on health facilities are "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law", and deplored the health situation in Taez.
The city in central Yemen has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks between pro-Hadi forces and Houthis.
The ICRC said it was been trying to deliver medical supplies to Taez for nearly two months, "but to no avail".
Houthis seized the capital Sana'a last year and then advanced south to second city Aden, forcing Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.
The United Nations says that around 5,000 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since March.
