Strikes at Hodeidah’s main hospital result in multiple deaths and injuries

Sana’a, 03 August 2018 – Yemen’s largest hospital, Al Thawra, was struck in Hodeidah on 2 August. Preliminary reports from authorities and humanitarian staff on the ground confirm multiple deaths and injuries caused by strikes at the hospital and near-by locations.

“This is shocking,” said Ms. Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. “Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law. Nothing can justify this loss of life.”

“Al Thawra is the largest hospital in Yemen and one of the few functioning medical facilities in the area. It houses one of the best cholera treatment centres in the city,” said Ms. Grande. “Hundreds of thousands of people depend on this hospital to survive.”

“Every day this week we have seen new cholera cases in Hodeidah, and now this. The impact of the strikes is appalling. Everything we are trying to do to stem the world’s worst cholera epidemic is at risk.”

“We’ve said this before and we are saying it again—parties to the conflict are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. This is not a voluntary commitment—it is mandatory on all belligerents,” said Ms. Grande. “So many people have died in Yemen—this conflict has to stop.”

Yemen is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Twenty-two million people, 75 per cent of the population, require some form of humanitarian assistance and protection, including 8.4 million who do not know where their next meal will come from. Well over 28,000 Yemenis have been either killed or injured since 2015. The UN has documented 9,500 civilian deaths, the majority of civilian casualties result from airstrikes.