Image Source: AGENCIES

20-04-2023
WATSUPPTODAY DESK

Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, experienced a stampede on Thursday that claimed at least 78 lives as hundreds of people gathered in a school to receive aid. According to the Sanaa director of health, a number of people were hurt, including 13 who were in critical condition. This information was provided by Al Masirah TV, a Houthi movement-affiliated television news outlet. The stampede occurred during merchants' distribution of charitable donations in the closing days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to a statement from the Houthi-run Ministry of Interior. Hundreds of people crowded into a school to receive the donations, which totaled 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or roughly $9 per person, according to two witnesses involved in the rescue operation who spoke to Reuters. Following the Houthi takeover of the capital Sanaa in 2014, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in 2015. Many people believe that Saudi Arabia and Iran are at war through this conflict. After eight years of fighting, Yemen's population was experiencing "the worst global humanitarian crisis," according to Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee. We hold the aggressor nations accountable for what transpired and for the bitter reality that the blockade and aggression have forced upon the Yemeni people. Hopes for a peaceful settlement have been boosted by the two sides' prisoner exchanges this month and their March agreement to reestablish diplomatic ties that were severed in 2016. The chief Houthi negotiator in Yemen said that recent peace negotiations with Saudi Arabia had advanced and that additional talks would be held to resolve outstanding issues.