Eight civilians, including children, killed by Houthi shelling that hits Ramadan iftar gathering in northwest Yemen

Medical and local sources in Hajjah province in northern Yemen said on Sunday evening that at least eight civilians, including children, were killed and more than 20 others injured after shelling by the Houthis targeted a gathering of residents while they were eating the iftar meal in the village of Al-Mash in the Al-Dair district of the Hayran directorate.

Local sources told The New Arab that the shelling targeted a gathering of residents during iftar in one of the area squares, resulting in deaths and injuries at the scene immediately, including children who were sitting around the iftar table at the moment of the attack. The sources indicated that some of the injured were in critical condition and were rushed to nearby health facilities to receive treatment.

According to the same sources, the shelling targeted the courtyard of a resident council in the Hayran directorate after the gathering was monitored, leading to a large number of casualties between dead and wounded. 

They added that ambulance teams and residents continued transferring the injured to hospitals, while the toll is still likely to rise because of the severity of the injuries.

The media centre of the Fifth Military Region quoted medical sources as saying that the intensity of the explosion caused severe injuries to some of the victims, in addition to the difficulty of identifying some bodies because the remains of the victims were mixed, which further complicates the process of determining the final number of those killed and injured.

The incident triggered a wave of grief and anger among residents, who said targeting a civilian gathering at iftar time during the month of Ramadan constituted a major shock to the local community.

Residents in the area called on humanitarian organisations to intervene urgently to provide medical assistance to the injured and support for the victims' families, amid the difficult humanitarian conditions the area faces.

Residents also demanded an investigation into the incident and accountability for those responsible for the shelling, stressing that the victims were civilians who had gathered to eat the iftar meal in ordinary Ramadan circumstances.

The Hayran Directorate is located north of Hajjah province near the contact lines between government forces and the Houthis. As the war in Yemen has continued for more than ten years and has produced one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, Hayran has occasionally experienced exchanges of shelling and military attacks, leading to civilian casualties.

Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here.