The World Food Programme warned on Friday 2 October 2026 that hunger in parts of Yemen could reach record levels within weeks, as fighting intensifies, more than 150,000 people are displaced and food prices rise. It said about three in four households in areas where it can operate are now unable to meet their basic food needs.
Escalating fighting worsens households’ inability to afford food
Matthew Hollingworth, the organisation’s assistant executive director for programme operations, said during a UN briefing in Geneva via video link from Rome that the impact of the conflict’s escalation in recent weeks on Yemenis’ ability to provide food had been immediate.
He added that the latest security escalation could have severe consequences for food security, warning that the hunger crisis would worsen the longer the fighting continued. Yemen is witnessing the biggest escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement since the UN-brokered truce in 2022, which significantly curbed cross-border attacks.
The renewed conflict has displaced tens of thousands of people, amid concerns about its impact on the balance of power in the country and shipping through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Widespread displacement and growing food insecurity
The Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sana’a, seized control in September of the entire Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed forces aligned with the internationally recognised government, which is based in the southern city of Aden. According to the programme’s estimates, 18.3 million people across Yemen face acute food insecurity.
About 2.2 million children under five suffer from acute malnutrition, including 500,000 with severe acute malnutrition, the most life-threatening form. Hollingworth said displaced families were reaching Lahj governorate, the outskirts of Aden and the area around Taiz after walking for days without water or food.
He added that some families had fled the fighting for a second, third or fourth time, while some were relying on bread they had carried with them and a simple soup made from available ingredients, including plant leaves and herbs.
Rising prices put pressure on daily meals
Prices of basic food items, including flour and vegetable oil, are rising in Yemen, which relies on imports for about 90 per cent of its food needs. Disruptions to markets, transport and commercial supplies are reducing households’ ability to buy food, forcing them to cut meals or turn to cheaper, less nutritious foods.
The programme said it had provided emergency assistance to more than 70,000 recently displaced people in Taiz and Lahj, while in September it reached more beneficiaries with ready-to-eat food rations than in any other month of 2026. It continues to support about 2.4 million people suffering severe hunger in areas under the Yemeni government’s control.
The programme is pre-positioning food supplies, which could allow it to reach 1.5 million people if the conflict intensifies. However, fighting, access restrictions and pressure on humanitarian resources are obstructing food deliveries to conflict areas, particularly parts of Taiz and Hudaydah, preventing access to about 350,000 people previously assisted by the programme and its partners.
Aid struggles to reach millions affected
In its briefing, the programme said it urgently needed funding to assist 152,000 newly displaced people, in addition to the 1.4 million people it currently supports. In a detailed overview of its operations, it said its regular programmes include food and cash assistance, nutrition support and school meals for about 2.4 million people.
It warned that displaced people and the most vulnerable groups would face aid gaps within a month unless new funding became available, with food stocks and response funds potentially running out within weeks.
Hollingworth said disruption to shipping through the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab straits, along with disruption in the Black Sea caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, threatened to drive up food and fuel prices and widen food insecurity worldwide. He added that higher prices or shortages could push millions more people in the most vulnerable countries into acute food insecurity.
An analysis published by UN Women on Friday said an additional 11.7 million women and girls in 28 countries, including Yemen, Sudan and Lebanon, could face food insecurity by the end of 2026 as a result of rising tensions in the Middle East and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hollingworth also said that 73 UN staff members remained detained by Houthi authorities, including 38 WFP employees, renewing calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
