'No Fuel to Keep Babies Warm': Shortages Push Hospitals in Yemen's Taiz to Brink

US News
Oct 26, 2026

'No Fuel to Keep Babies Warm': Shortages Push Hospitals in Yemen's Taiz to Brink


Fuel shortages in Yemen's besieged city ⁠of ⁠Taiz have forced one hospital to cut the ⁠number of incubators it can operate from 40 to 10, putting newborn babies at risk as ​weeks of fighting choke off vital supplies and deepen a humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

 

"There's no oxygen, there's no fuel to run the ‌incubators, to keep the babies warm," said ‌Nada Ahmed, a nurse in the neonatal unit of the Yemeni-Swedish Hospital for Maternity and Childhood.

Nawal Najeeb, a supervisor in the neonatal unit, warned ⁠the facility could ⁠be forced to halt operations if fuel supplies do not arrive.

"It will be a catastrophe ​for the babies, a catastrophe of deaths and disabilities."

Taiz has been largely isolated since October 3, with fighting preventing humanitarian supplies from entering and civilians from leaving, following an escalation in clashes between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

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