Siege of Yemen's Taiz leaves families short of food, fuel and water

Families in the Yemeni city of Taiz are cutting back on meals, cooking over firewood and sleeping in public buildings as a siege that began in early October tightens its grip on daily life.

Yousef Farhan, a 39-year-old father of four, said his household now eats little besides rice or beans. "The whole day, we either eat rice or beans, whether in the morning or in the evening," he told Al Jazeera. Shelling pushed the family out of their home years ago, and they have since lived in a school in the Wadi al-Qadi zone. Farhan used to sell cucumbers from a small cart outside the school, earning between 4,000 and 5,000 Yemeni riyals (roughly $2.50 to $3.20) a day. That income once covered a monthly gas cylinder. After the school closed, his work ended, and the family turned to firewood.

Taiz is Yemen's third-largest city, with about 1 million residents out of a national population of roughly 43 million. It lost both of its land routes in early October. The Houthis took the town of al-Turbah by October 4, cutting the Taiz-Al-Turbah-Aden Road, the main route for goods. A day earlier, forces loyal to the internationally recognised government had closed the eastern al-Houban crossing into Houthi-held territory, citing attempted Houthi incursions.

On October 20, the United Nations warned that road closures and a lack of security were blocking vital supplies. It said prices of the food and fuel still available had more than doubled and that water production in Taiz had fallen by half.

Fuel is at the center of the crisis. Diesel powers water pumps, hospital generators and ambulances, while petrol allows people to reach work and medical care. Cooking gas feeds households and restaurants. The city's fuel stations have been closed since October 5. Al Jazeera's price checks found that 20 litres of petrol now cost 120,000 riyals ($77), four times last year's 30,000 riyals ($19). The same amount of diesel has risen from 46,000 riyals ($29) to 90,000 riyals ($58), and a cooking gas cylinder from 11,400 riyals ($7) to 40,000 riyals ($26). Bus fares have gone from 200 riyals to 500 riyals, a rise of 150 percent.

Water is also scarcer. UN officials say tanker deliveries now cost roughly three times as much as before the fighting escalated. Diesel shortages have disrupted pumping, and local authorities say access restrictions are keeping tankers from the Al-Dhabab basin, an important source of drinking water, out of the city.

Sayyun Burhan, 40, said her family lives "day-to-day, waiting to see how the next day will pass." Her husband's job at a local store has ended, and poor health makes it hard for him to find other work, yet rent, food, water and cooking gas still have to be paid for. Her children are kept indoors out of fear for their safety. "They have been deprived of schooling and play," she said.

The health system is under similar pressure. On October 22, the World Health Organization warned that 42 health facilities in Taiz were reporting severe shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicine and medical supplies. Fatima Khaled, 55, who has kidney failure, cannot afford repeated trips from her village west of the city or a room near the hospital, so she sleeps on the floor of the dialysis hall at Al-Jumhuri General Hospital. "I feel like I am imprisoned here. We have no housing or shelter here. This hall is our shelter," she said.