The UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, arrived today, Monday, in Taiz City for his second visit to the province. Local sources said that the UN envoy met with the local authority's leadership upon his arrival in Taiz. Grundberg's visit to Taiz comes as part of his tour to Yemen, which he started from Aden on Saturday. He met with the head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) in Aden. Yesterday, Sunday, Grundberg arrived in Mocha and met with Tariq Saleh, a military commander and a member of the PLC, who emphasized the need to maintain calm on the front lines in Yemen and create favorable conditions for reaching a ceasefire agreement across the country, in addition to implementing economic measures and resuming a political process under UN auspices.
A UN report revealed that the number of internally displaced people in Yemen decreased during the first week of February to its lowest level since the beginning of 2024. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said - in a displacement tracking report issued yesterday, Sunday - that it monitored a total of 19 families consisting of 114 people. They were displaced for the first time between February 4 and 10, 2024. The number of displaced people registered last week represents the lowest weekly rate since the beginning of this year, recording a decrease of 58% compared to the previous week. The Displacement Matrix (DTM) of the Organization for Migration stated that the total number of displacement cases recorded between January 1 and February 10, 2024 amounted to 404 families, consisting of 2,424 people.
The demining Masam Project dismantled 784 mines in various regions of Yemen in the first week of February 2024. It eliminated three anti-personnel mines, 129 anti-tank mines, 623 unexploded ordnance, and 29 explosive devices. Since the start of the project, 431,838 mines have been cleared. The warring sides in Yemen have planted thousands of landmines since the breakout of the war in 2015.
An Israeli rescue operation freed two Israeli-Argentine hostages held by Hamas militants in Rafah on Monday, but supporting airstrikes killed nearly 70 Palestinians in the southern Gaza city, where about one million displaced civilians have sought refuge from months of bombardments. The mission by the Israeli military, the Shin Bet security service, and a special police unit freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, the military said. They were among 250 people seized during the Oct. 7 raid by Hamas militants that triggered Israel's war on Gaza.
