Hunger increasing in Yemen, record number of people unable to meet food needs, WFP warns

Jerusalem Post/Middle EastYemen is experiencing the most serious escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi group since a UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks ​in 2022.Follow us on GoogleA girl carries a jerrycan as displaced people living in temporary shelters receive food aid in Al-Khawkhah, in Yemen's western Hodeidah province, on July 30, 2026.(photo credit: Khaled ZIAD / AFP via Getty Images)OCTOBER 2, 2026 14:43Hunger in Yemen is accelerating, with a record number of people unable to meet their food needs as conflict intensifies in the country, the World Food Programme said on Friday.Yemen is experiencing the most serious escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi group since a UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks ​in 2022.The renewed ​conflict has already displaced tens of thousands of people and could reshape control in Yemen, with implications for Red Sea shipping lanes and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.Displaced Yemeni woman Saeedah Mohammed feeds her grand-children with boiled tree leaves inside their makeshift tent in the Al-Manij displacement camp, near the city of Taez in Yemen's southwest, on May 21, 2026. (credit: Ahmed al-Basha / AFP via Getty Images)Three-quarters of households skipping meals, WFP saysWithin a few weeks, a record number of people in government-controlled areas of the country where the WFP can access are no longer able to meet their food needs, with three out of four of households skipping meals, according to Matthew Hollingworth, the WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations.The total population of government-held areas is estimated at around 10 million people.“The effect of this latest flare-up of insecurity on the food security situation threatens to be absolutely devastating,” Hollingworth told reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome.Follow us on Google