According to a Yemeni NGO, Yemeni Houthi rebels are also holding over a hundred kidnapped support workers, including eleven United Nations employees.
Next month, the Houthis, who are supported by Iran, kidnapped seven UN staff in the region’s capital Sanaa, while releasing on Jan. 23 the 25 seamen of the Galaxy Leader, a shopkeeper vessel they had seized in Nov. 2023 off the coast of Oman.
Advertisement
The most recent detentions are a significant increase in severity and have only worsened the humanitarian crisis by putting an end to the charitable appearance in Yemen.
The UN has suspended all established travel into and within places under the de facto control of its employees, according to Julien Harneis, UN native and philanthropic representative for Yemen, in January.
The suspensions “are a disturbing increase for humanitarian activities in Yemen, where access and stability are still important issues,” Harneis said.
The Houthis have already been urged by the UN to demand the immediate and absolute discharge of all imprisoned staff members and civilians who have been arbitrarily detained.
In an effort to help Hamas over the Gaza issue, the Houthis have also been aiming their teeth at Israel as well as international delivery in the Red Sea.
Despite promising to stop their actions when a ceasefire was established, the Houthis are nonetheless attacking ships owned by Israelis or registered by them despite the most recent truce between Israel and Hamas.
President Donald Trump re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO ) after their attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping within hours of his inauguration on January 20.
Advertisement
In the hope that it would lessen hostilities and strengthen the charitable conditions in the area, previous president Joe Biden lifted their criminal standing in February 2021.
In June 2024, the Houthis conducted a blow across the nation’s under their control while recently detained many UN support staff.
Houthi militia detained Yemeni employees working for NGOs in Sanaa, Hodeida, Amran, and Saada, which resulted in the UN suspending all standard movements while keeping the security and safety of its staff.
At least 18 Yemeni support staff are currently being held captive, according to the Yemeni Mayyun Organization for Human Rights.
” The Houthis picked up the UN staff because they are more useful for negotiating a deal”, Abdulghani Al-Iryani, senior scientist at the Yemeni think tankSana’a Center for Strategic Studies, told German news journalist, DW.
Since the beginning of the legal war in Yemen in 2014, Iranian-backed insurgents have kidnapped, detained, and tortured thousands of civilians and  , foreign aid workers.
The civil war has since caused the deaths of about 150, 000 Yemenis and has displaced 4.8 million civilians.
Advertisement
Since the country dissolved into chaos, millions of Yemenis are in desperate need of assistance as rival factions supported by regional powers like Iran and Saudi Arabia battle for control.
Meanwhile, the Houthis let 153 prisoners of war go on Jan. 25, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
” This step comes in support of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza”, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Houthi leader, told SABA, the pro-rebel press agency in Yemen.
