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Civilian death toll tops 1,600 in Yemen since late March: UN Human Rights Office

Xinhua, July 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday said that at least 142 civilians, including 36 children and 27 women, were killed in Yemen, and 224 others wounded from July-3-13, a UN spokesman told reporters here.

"This brings the total civilian death toll since 26 March to 1, 670. Another 3,829 people were injured during this period," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. " Civilian infrastructure has also suffered, with at least 187 sites partially or completely destroyed as a result of the armed conflict."

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that 13 trucks crossed into Yemen Monday and 27 Tuesday, Dujarric noted. " In July so far, more than 127,000 people are confirmed to have received emergency food assistance in the southern governorates of Taiz and Lahj."

"This distribution happened through WFP's local partners, including the Yemen Ministry of Education," he added.

In Yemen, airstrikes and ground fighting have been underway despite a UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire between Houthis, the Shiite rebels, and Yemen's internationally supported government and its allies.

"Obviously the secretary-general is very much disappointed that the humanitarian pause did not take hold over the weekend in Yemen, " Dujarric told reporters here Monday.

After the failed truce attempt, the secretary-general called on all sides on the ground to "prevent deterioration of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe" in the conflict-worn country, he said.

Reports of airstrikes continued, including reports of a Saudi- led airstrike earlier Monday which, according to witnesses and medics, left at least 21 civilians killed and 45 others wounded in a residential neighborhood in Yemen's capital of Sanaa.

The United Nations had hoped that the pause would allow humanitarian agencies to reach civilians with essential medicines, vaccinations, food and water. Endite