Saudi-led airstrike kills, injures dozens in Yemen's Hodeida

An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on Saturday targeting the port city of Hodeida killed at least 17 people and injured dozens more.

A spokesman for the Houthi-rebel-run Health Ministry, Youssef al-Hadari, says that beyond the 17 killed there were also 20 wounded in the Saturday strike on the Gabal Ras area.

Hodeida, with its key port installations that bring in humanitarian aid, has become the centre of Yemen's conflict.

In June, the Saudi-led coalition launched a major operation to retake both the city and its port. The troops, backed by coalition airstrikes, have retaken a number of towns across Hodeidah province but have not yet breached the city.

In little more than 50 days - from 1 June to 24 July - the constant threat of bombing, shelling, starvation and a lack of basic services displaced a total of 330,610 people from Hodeida Governorate, according to the United Nations.

The coalition has been locked in a stalemated war with the rebels since 2015. More than 13,000 people are believed to have died in Yemen's war, which intensified in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition entered the war.

Around 11.3 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, while schools and hospitals have been targeted in fighting.  Access to food, fuel, clean water and medical supplies has also been compromised. 

Nearly 8 million children are now going hungry every day, British charity Save the Children warned earlier this year, and almost a third of under-fives are acutely malnourished.

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