The EU on Tuesday announced $125 million for NGOs and UN agencies helping people in Yemen, a day after aid groups appealed for billions to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country. The money is directed at the "most vulnerable in Yemen", the European Commission said after a Brussels meeting bringing together donors, UN officials and non-governmental organizations. On Monday, nearly 200 aid groups appealed for funds to bridge a $2.3 billion shortfall in assistance for Yemen, where more than half the population needs help after nine years of war. Only $435 million of the $2.7 billion called for in Yemen's 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan requirement had been raised until now, aid groups said, warning of threats including food insecurity, cholera, and unexploded ordnance.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that Yemen would be facing a lean period from June to September due to a decrease in humanitarian food assistance in Houthi-controlled areas and a projected increase in food prices in areas held by the legitimate government. In its quarterly food security update, the FAO said that despite a brief relief experienced from mid-March through April this year due to augmented social support (zakat) during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, food security is anticipated to deteriorate from June to September, marking "the peak of the lean period in the country."
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned the heinous attack on the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate's Secretary General Mohammed Shubaita, urging the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the crime. An armed individual stopped the car where Shubaita's car on Tuesday in Sanaa and opened fire on him. Two bullets hit his leg and abdomen. IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "The authorities must immediately open an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the heinous attack against our colleague Mohammed Shubaita and his relatives."
Israel sees no sign of a breakthrough in Egyptian-mediated talks on a truce with Hamas that would free some Gaza hostages but is keeping its delegation of mid-level negotiators in Cairo for now, an Israeli official said on Wednesday. Israeli tanks rolled across the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and the only exit for the evacuation of wounded patients. Rafah is a refuge for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have fled combat further north in the enclave.
