Mapping Yemen’s Taiz siege: the price families are paying as food, fuel and water costs rise

Families lose options at home

Yousef Farhan’s family has lived in a school in Taiz since shelling drove them from their home years ago. The siege later shut the school and ended his trade, leaving the family to cook with firewood.

His children range in age from five months to five years. His sister and her child also rely on what he can find after fighting reached their neighbourhood.

Farhan once used a gas cylinder for a month, but even cooking rice or beans now depends on available firewood. Across the city, families are weighing what they can eat against the cost of preparing it.

Prices climb across Taiz

UN officials say the cost of tanker-delivered water has roughly tripled since the fighting intensified. Diesel has also become more expensive: 20 litres rose from 46,000 riyals ($29) to 90,000 riyals ($58).

A cooking gas cylinder went from 11,400 riyals ($7) to 40,000 riyals ($26). Bus fares increased from 200 riyals (13 cents) to 500 riyals (32 cents), a rise of 150 percent.

The added transport costs take a larger portion of household budgets already strained by higher food prices. Local authorities say access restrictions are preventing tankers from the Al-Dhabab basin, an important drinking-water source, from reaching the city.

Closures disrupt vital supplies

Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government shut the eastern al-Houban crossing into Houthi-held territory a day earlier, citing attempted Houthi incursions. On October 20, the United Nations warned that closed roads and security concerns were obstructing essential supplies.

Taiz has about 1 million residents, within a country of roughly 43 million people. The restrictions are affecting both household access to goods and the movement of water tankers.

Patients face strained hospitals

Fatima Khaled, 55, has kidney failure and cannot afford repeated journeys from her village west of Taiz for hospital treatment. Unable to pay for a room nearby, she sleeps on the floor in the dialysis hall at Al-Jumhuri General Hospital.

The World Health Organization warned on October 22 that 42 health facilities in Taiz reported severe shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicine and medical supplies. Those shortages add pressure to patients already struggling to reach care.