Dec 5, 2017

The UN on Tuesday called for a "humanitarian" truce in air strikes and fighting in Yemen as it seeks to deliver aid to civilians trapped in the capital Sanaa.

"I ... sent a message asking for a truce, a peace pause, a humanitarian pause, for the parties to stop shooting, stop fighting, stop air strikes, so the people can go to hospitals, can go to seek safety ... and go to also find a place for water and food," UN humanitarian coordinator Jamie McGoldrick told reporters in Geneva by phone from Sanaa.

"Our ability to get to people over the last five days has been impeded because of the air strikes, because of the fighting, and our life-saving support activities were blocked," he said.

McGoldrick's statement came a day after Yemen's Huthi rebels killed former president Ali Abdullah Saleh as he fle

d the capital following the collapse of their uneasy alliance.