At least 55 people, including women and children, have been killed in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah in air raids carried out by a Saudi and UAE alliance battling Houthi rebels, the rebel-run health ministry said.
In a statement late on Thursday the ministry said the attacks, which targeted the city’s Public al-Thawra Hospital and a busy fishing port, wounded at least 124 Yemenis.
Taha al-Mutawakil, the Minister for Public Health and Population in the Houthi-led administration, said local authorities were struggling to cope with the number of casualties, and ambulances feared transporting the wounded to Sanaa or other provinces due to fears of being targeted by air attacks.
The International Red Cross, which supports the al-Thawra hospital, said it sent surgical supplies that will be enough to treat up to 50 patients who are in critical condition.
He added that US shared responsibility for the deaths.
With logistical support from the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been carrying out attacks inside Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to reinstate the internationally recognised government of President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting and more than 100,000 children have died from extreme hunger and starvation.
Mohamed al-Hasni, the head of Hodeidah’s fishermen union, told Al Jazeera that there were no military targets in the area and “the targeting of fishermen was not expected”.
“The port and market were full of people. It was a massacre,” he said.
“There was no military presence in the area. No armed men were around at all. The targeting was aimed at spreading fear and terror.
Source: Al-Jazeera