The IOM said on Wednesday that displacement figures surged from 76,000 in mid-September to more than 200,000. The southwestern governorate of Taiz has been hit hardest, and more than 3,700 people have also fled by sea to Djibouti.
“People are running for their lives and finding nowhere safe to go,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope, who called for increased funding to meet rising needs.
Yemen is experiencing its most serious escalation in fighting since a UN-brokered truce largely halted major cross-border attacks in 2022. The Iran-backed Houthis, who already control most of northern Yemen including the capital Sanaa, seized the country’s entire Red Sea coast last month from Saudi-backed forces of the internationally recognised government based in Aden.
On Sunday, Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, announced an offensive to retake all remaining Houthi-held territory, including Sanaa, which the armed group has controlled since 2014.
On Friday, the UN World Food Programme warned that three in four families in parts of Yemen were going hungry due to the “absolutely devastating” impact of the renewed conflict.