Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of Sana'a on Monday amid chants decrying the Saudi-led blockade and airstrikes in the war-torn country.
President of Yemen's Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad told the rally that the coalition has “shut down all doors for peace and dialogue.”
He also said that the more the blockade tightens, the more the Yemeni will develop their abilities to “respond to the assault of the enemy.”
In the meantime, Saudi Arabia’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement early on Monday that the Saudi-led coalition will begin reopening airports and seaports in Yemen.
The Saudi mission statement said: “The first step in this process will be taken within 24 hours and involves reopening all the ports in areas controlled by” Yemen’s (fugitive former) president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi government, which the coalition backs.
It says those ports are in Aden, Mocha and Mukalla.
The Saudi-led coalition closed all air, land and sea ports to Yemen on last Monday following a missile attack against Riyadh.
The Red Cross said last Tuesday that the latest closure prevented it from delivering a shipment of chlorine tablets, necessary for the prevention of cholera, and fears that it will not be able to deliver 50,000 vials of much-needed insulin.
Humanitarian access to Yemen has also been impeded, the United Nations said.
The blockade is likely to worsen a humanitarian crisis in Yemen that, according to the UN, has pushed some seven million people to the brink of famine and left nearly 900,000 infected with cholera.