As Yemen plunges deeper into conflict, the country is now in the midst of a major food crisis, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, warned on Tuesday.

“As the conflict continues to escalate, over 12.9 million people in Yemen are now surviving without adequate access to basic food supplies, including six million who are deemed severely food insecure,” Ms. Elver said, expressing her deep concern over the dire humanitarian situation currently ravaging the country.

“The situation facing children in the country is particularly alarming, with reports suggesting that 850,000 Yemeni children face acute malnutrition, a figure that is expected to rise to 1.2 million over the coming weeks, if the conflict persists at its present level,” she stressed.