Aid agencies are seeking urgent access for humanitarian supplies to war-torn Yemen after the Saudi-led coalition closed all routes into the country. The UN and the Red Cross said a "catastrophic" situation threatened millions who rely on life-saving aid.
On Saturday, a ballistic missile targetted at Riyadh was intercepted. In response to the attack, the coalition announced the "temporary" closure of all Yemeni land, sea and air ports, tightening an existing blockade.
Aid agencies have reacted with dismay and anger to the border closures. The country relies on imports for virtually everything civilians need to survive, but now neither food, fuel nor medicine can get in. The Red Cross said its shipment of chlorine tablets, vital to combating a cholera epidemic which has affected more than 900,000 people, had been blocked.
"If these channels, these lifelines are not kept open it is catastrophic for people who are already in what we have said is the world's worst humanitarian crisis at the moment," said Office for the Co-ordination for Humanitarian Affairs spokesman Jens Laerke. "So this is an access problem of colossal dimensions right now."
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