Regional tension affecting Yemen peace effort, says UN envoy
The UN special envoy to Yemen warned last night that regional tension linked to the Israel-Gaza war – particularly recent Red Sea attacks by the Houthi rebels – are hindering peace efforts in the country.
Hans Grundberg told the UN Security Council in New York that “all parties” in the Yemen conflict “prefer the path to peace” but that recent escalations were creating new dangers. The Iran-backed Houthis have unleashed dozens of attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
Those attacks and US and UK retaliatory strikes have brought Yemen to a dangerous inflection point – just as efforts to secure a long-standing peace deal in the country’s civil war were making progress.
“Three things need to happen in the immediate term to create an off-ramp to this dangerous escalatory cycle,” Mr Grundberg said.
He called for regional de-escalation, for all parties to refrain from “military opportunism” and for progress towards a mediated agreement to be protected.
“What happens regionally impacts Yemen, and what happens in Yemen can impact the region,” Mr Grundberg said.
In December, he told the 15-member Security Council that the warring parties in Yemen had agreed to work towards the resumption of an inclusive political process.
But he noted that rising regional tension linked to the war in Gaza, “and in particular the military escalation in the Red Sea, are slowing down the pace of peace efforts”.
Mr Grundberg said he tried to insulate the peace process from wider regional dynamics, but that mediation efforts were now “much more complex … buffeted by different priorities and interests”.
He said the US decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist group again could complicate peace efforts.
“It is imperative that we protect the political space, that communication channels are kept open and that all actors remain actively engaged with my efforts,” Mr Grundberg said.
World Health Organisation doctors in Gaza have warned that the last three working hospitals in Rafah, the enclave’s southernmost city, will be unable to cope with Israel’s expected full-scale military incursion.
“Of course, we are working with our partners in Rafah, the remaining three hospitals, to prepare for when the Israeli military operation takes place,” WHO spokesman Dr Richard Peeperkorn said yesterday.
“But … even if the contingency plans are in place, they are not sufficient for the level of catastrophe we expect.”
The Israeli military says it wants to eliminate Hamas fighters and free hostages in Rafah, but has given no details of a proposed plan to evacuate civilians from the city.
The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its fifth month, has devastated Gaza’s healthcare system.
Fewer than half of its hospitals are even partially functioning as scores of people are killed and wounded by daily strikes and fighting. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian infrastructure as cover.
Palestinians were ordered to leave Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, yes
terday, after being trapped inside for weeks by heavy fighting that also killed several people inside the medical complex.
Khan Younis was the most recent target of Israel’s ground offensive, which is expected to be expanded to Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Rafah’s population has grown to about 1.4 million during the war, as people fled there to escape bombardment and fighting elsewhere in the enclave.
Dr Peeperkorn said further displacement would “wreak havoc” on the population.
“It would only increase the burden on the under-capacitated health system … and push the system to the brink of collapse,” he said.
“In Rafah, only three relatively small hospitals are operational. They are not sufficient to support the continuing cases we’re seeing.
“[Abu Yousef] Al Najjar Hospital is supposed to be a primary clinic facility, but was forced to operate at a larger capacity.
“Lots of patients are refusing to be discharged because they have nowhere else to go. They are afraid if a military operation does happen, it will come in their direction.
“It’s not about direct military targets on the hospital, but even military operations near the hospital that is worrisome,” added Dr Peeperkorn.
Dr Athanasios Gargavanis, a trauma surgeon and emergency officer for the UN health agency, said an immediate ceasefire was required in Gaza so that “health workers are able to deliver at the best of their capacities”.
“We are here to support the health system that’s suffering, not only because of the chronic blockade and this actual war, but also from the movement of the population that impedes health workers to do their work in the best possible way,” Dr Gargavanis said.
He said at least 9,000 patients in Rafah need to be evacuated for urgent medical treatment.
Many people have suffered severe burns and wounds that have become infected due to a lack of resources, he added.