No aid in Houthi land, official says

CAIRO — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have banned over 35 U.N. and international agencies and relief groups from working in the territory under their control, U.N. sources said Wednesday.

A ban would make it even harder to respond to what the U.N. says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. A Saudi-led coalition has been at war with the Iran-allied Houthis since 2015 and has severely restricted the import of aid and other vital goods. The war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 2 million and helped spawn a cholera epidemic.

A leaked document posted on Twitter by the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, operated by the government, showed a list of 35 agencies, including the World Health Organization, the U.N. children’s agency and Oxfam. The document, purportedly signed by a Houthi-allied deputy health minister, orders officials to “ban them from movement in and to governorates.”

“The organizations listed here work in the health sector and haven’t passed through the Health Ministry to obtain permission for staff, medicine, and medical supplies to move between governorates and towns. They work unilaterally,” the document said.

A spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry denied there was a ban.

“Clearance was necessary even before the war,” Abdel-Hakim al-Kahlani said. He said the agencies need permission in order to pass through checkpoints and can easily obtain it from the Health Ministry.”