Ten thousand children have been killed and injured in Yemen since the start of the conflict, said a spokesperson for Unicef in Geneva on Tuesday, returning from a mission in the country. "
The conflict in Yemen has just passed a shameful stage with the mark of 10,000 children killed or injured since the start of the fighting in March 2015. Which makes four children every day
", denounced James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund at the regular UN briefing in Geneva. "
Of course these are the numbers that the United Nations can confirm, a much larger number of children killed and injured are not known except by their families,
" he stressed. James Elder said Unicef needed $ 235 million "
by the middle of next year
”to be able to maintain the level of aid.
Read alsoYemen: more than 165 Houthi rebels killed south of Marib
“
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen - the worst in the world - is the result of the tragic convergence of 4 threats: an enduring violent conflict, a devastated economy, crumbling services for all aid systems, be it the health, food, water or sanitation, protection and education, and a severely under-funded UN operation
, ”said James Elder.
"
At the current level of funding, and if the fighting does not stop, Unicef cannot reach all these children
" and "
without more international aid these children - who have no responsibility in this conflict - will die
», He hammered.
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Four in five children in Yemen are in need of humanitarian aid, a total of 11 million, also recalled James Elder.
400,000 suffer from acute malnutrition and 2 million are deprived of school.
Yemen has been the scene of a war since 2014 between pro-government forces and the Houthis, rebels close to Iran who control much of the north of the country including the capital Sana'a.
Since 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition has intervened to support loyalist forces.
In seven years of war, tens of thousands of people have been killed, most of them civilians, and millions have been displaced, according to international organizations.