The delivery is part of a wider emergency response to intensifying fighting that has placed health-care facilities across Yemen under immense strain, including in Marib governorate, where an ICRC mobile surgical team has been deployed since late August.

“The recent escalation in hostilities has overwhelmed hospitals, which are grappling with critical shortages of medical supplies and an influx of war-wounded patients,” said Christine Cipolla, ICRC’s head of delegation in Yemen. “This urgent support will help front-line hospitals continue life-saving care to those in desperate need.”

The ICRC is working swiftly to distribute the supplies to priority hospitals and health facilities across the country.

In Marib, where health-care facilities are under immense strain, the ICRC’s mobile surgical team has been deployed to Marib General Hospital since 23 August to strengthen emergency response capacity. The team has been working with Yemeni medical staff to perform emergency triage and surgical operations. 

In addition to medical supplies delivered to key hospitals and health facilities since late July, the ICRC is working to bring in additional stocks to strengthen emergency response capacity and help ease the pressure on health-care facilities across front lines. 

The ICRC has also scaled up its support of the Yemeni Red Crescent Society (YRCS). More than 50 YRCS ambulances are now operational on both sides of the front lines.

While the ICRC remains committed to responding to urgent humanitarian needs across Yemen, the scale of the current crisis could quickly exceed the existing response capacity. In some parts of the country, the ICRC is the only international humanitarian organisation present and active on the ground.

“Our mission is purely humanitarian. We do not take sides in the conflict,” said Cipolla. “Our priority is to alleviate human suffering, protect those affected by the conflict, and ensure that essential services and supplies reach those in need. We continue to engage with all parties to the conflict, calling on them to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.” 

About the ICRC: 

Since 1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has worked to relieve suffering and preserve human dignity during war and armed violence. Alongside our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners, we deliver life-saving aid across front lines and strive to reconnect families and locate missing people.

Engaging with authorities and armed forces on all sides, often confidentially, we advocate for humane treatment of detainees and urge compliance with international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm, including online.

For further information or interview requests, please contact:

Iscander Saeed, ICRC Sana’a: +967 730500719, ialmamari@icrc.org

ICRC Geneva, +41 22 730 34 43, press@icrc.org

Hachem Osseiran, ICRC Dubai, +971 50 425 4091, hosseiran@icrc.org