The United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies launched the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Yemen on Wednesday, appealing for US$2.47 billion to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to 10.5 million people in need. More than half of the country's population - 19.5 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection this year, with Yemen's most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women and girls, at greatest risk.
While international attention has shifted to other global emergencies, Yemen remains one of the world's most severe and protracted humanitarian crises after nearly a decade of war.
Ten years of crisis have had a profound impact on Yemeni communities, who continue to bear the brunt of the conflict. Over the past year, the humanitarian situation has remained dire or worsened in large parts of the country, with 1.3 million more women, children and men in need of relief than in the previous year.
A combination of economic decline, climatic shocks and regional escalation is driving humanitarian needs and fueling protection risks. Almost half of the country's population faces acute food insecurity, more than 13 million people lack adequate access to safe water, while 40 percent of health facilities are partially functional or non-functional.
Through the 2025 Humanitarian Appeal, aid agencies aim to provide life-saving assistance to 10.5 million of the most vulnerable people in need.
“These efforts will be guided by the voices of communities, and ensure that we deliver cost-effective and quality assistance to crisis-affected people wherever they are,” Julien Harneis, Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, said.
Lack of adequate funding continues to undermine efforts to meet critical needs across Yemen. The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requested US$2.7 billion to reach 11.2 million people in need across the country. As of January 2025, the 2024 HRP was only 53 percent funded.
Despite shortfalls in funding and other challenges, 197 aid organizations reached more than 8 million people with life-saving assistance last year - two-thirds of which were local Yemeni organizations.
“Humanitarian action has been effective in alleviating the worst impacts of this crisis,” stressed the Humanitarian Coordinator.
“But we cannot do this alone. Much more is needed to reduce needs, achieve peace, revive the economy and build the resilience of communities through sustainable development activities,” he added.
In a related development, the UN Security Council discussed the situation in Yemen on Wednesday.
The UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said the conflict in the country has become increasingly internationalized, with the escalating cycle of strikes and counterstrikes hampering prospects for peace, and warned that the improved security conditions for civilians since the 2022 ceasefire could be lost.
Grundberg said the Houthi rebels - also known as Ansar Allah - had stepped up their attacks in Israel and continued attacks in the Red Sea, prompting retaliatory strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as Israel, against Yemen.
In 2024, Houthi forces continued their attacks on international shipping and targeted Israel with drones and missiles, which resulted in several civilian injuries. In response to these attacks, there have been numerous Israeli airstrikes on Hudaydah, a major entry point for humanitarian aid into impoverished Yemen, as well as on Sanaa International Airport.
Recent Israeli airstrikes have damaged critical civilian infrastructure, including Sanaa International Airport and the Port of Hudaydah, disrupting the ability to unload humanitarian aid. The airstrikes on Hudaydah and Sanaa have killed and injured dozens of civilians and caused significant damage to civilian infrastructure.
“We need immediate de-escalation and genuine engagement for peace,” he stated, adding that almost 40 million Yemenis “have waited far too long”.
While regional tensions have dominated the headlines, there has been escalation on several fronts, Grundberg said.
The UN envoy also spoke about his latest efforts in the region. He said he had held sometimes difficult, often constructive and always frank discussions with Yemeni, regional and international stakeholders in recent days.
Grundberg stressed that any further escalation risks undermining existing commitments and would have devastating humanitarian consequences for the Yemeni people.
A return to widespread violence would trigger further displacement, collapse essential services, and exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis - pushing Yemen further away from the peace it so desperately needs.
The country's dire situation is compounded by ongoing displacement. Across Yemen, 4.8 million people are internally displaced. Children and women make up 80 percent of these displaced people.
“The cost of inaction will be profound, with the heaviest burden falling on Yemen’s most vulnerable populations,” Grundberg stressed.
Joyce Msuya, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the Council members that “the last month has seen a concerning increase in attacks against civilian infrastructure”.
Pointing to the damage to Yemen's ports following Israeli air strikes, she noted that the country relies on imports for more than two-thirds of its food and 90 percent of its medicine. Moreover, Sanaa International Airport is a "lifeline for life-saving supplies," she said, adding that disruptions to airport operations impact the ability to deliver aid.
The Israeli attack on Sanaa International Airport on December 26 occurred during the landing of a commercial passenger flight and resulted in the deaths of at least three civilians and the injury of 30 others, including a crew member of the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS).
A high-level UN delegation, led by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was at the airport. Humanitarian Coordinator Harneis and other UN staff were also present at the time.
The airport sustained significant damage, in particular the destruction of the air traffic control tower, raising concerns about flight safety and the safe movement of passengers. Like Yemen's Red Sea ports, Sanaa airport is crucial for humanitarian operations.
On January 10, Israeli forces attacked a power plant and two ports in Yemen, reportedly killing at least one person and wounding nine others. Israeli officials said the strikes were in response to ongoing Houthi attacks against Israel.
On Thursday, the international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) underlined that deliberate attacks on objects essential for survival are war crimes.
“Israeli authorities and the Houthis should immediately end all unlawful attacks, including those that target civilians and civilian infrastructure. The international community should condemn all unlawful attacks and place pressure on warring parties to abide by the laws of armed conflict and principles of civilian protection,” HRW said.
Military escalation following Israeli airstrikes on targets across the country risks aggravating the already miserable situation for civilians, and could also undermine Yemen's fragile peace process and longer-term recovery. As the conflict in Gaza drags on, the state in the south of the Arabian Peninsula risks being drawn further into it.
The Houthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing the capital and ousting the internationally recognized government in September 2014. The conflict between a Saudi-led coalition of Gulf states and the ousted Yemeni government against the Ansar Allah movement escalated in 2015, when Saudi Arabia began airstrikes against Houthi and Houthi-affiliated forces.
More than two and a half years ago, a six-month ceasefire was announced between Yemen's warring parties. While the UN-brokered ceasefire has not been renewed, there has been a tenuous continuation of truce-like conditions. As a result, the level of violence has decreased and progress has been made in political negotiations.
While the reduction in armed conflict in the country since April 2022 has led to a reduction in civilian casualties and suffering among the population, the situation remains precarious without a lasting political solution in Yemen and a lasting resolution to the Gaza war.
Meanwhile, Yemen faces additional humanitarian challenges.
In December, the World Health Organization reported that Yemen bore the highest burden of cholera in the world in 2024. According to a WHO report, approximately 250,000 suspected cases of cholera were reported, with more than 860 associated deaths since the beginning of the year, accounting for 35 percent of the global cholera burden and 18 percent of the global reported mortality.
Yemen is also one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. And it is among the least prepared to mitigate or adapt to the impacts of climate-related natural hazards, such as floods, which are becoming more frequent. More than 1.3 million people were affected by climate-related extreme weather events in 2024.
Further information
Full text: Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2025, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, published January 15, 2025
https://reliefweb.int/attachments/bd0c5bbc-e74c-41c7-9677-20cddc39bdc5/HNRP_2025_Yemen_EN.pdf
Full text: Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen by Joyce Msuya, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, statement, published January 15, 2025
https://www.unocha.org/news/un-deputy-relief-chief-urges-security-council-push-lasting-political-resolution-yemen