A woman rests on a bed next to her malnourished son at a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Houdieda, Yemen yesterday. Reuters

The UN Security Council is calling on all parties in Yemen's civil war to halt all military activity and abide by the terms of a cessation of hostilities agreed upon in April.

The council said in statement that the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate in the absence of a durable peace agreement and urged all parties to resume talks, as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned: "At least seven million people - a quarter of the population - are living under emergency levels of food insecurity." That is near famine level.

It's a crisis that has deepened since the civil war broke out, and there has been a 15pc increase in hunger during the past year. The WFP further warns that another 7.1 million people are ready to fall into hunger if the situation does not improve. In all, 19 of the 22 governorates of Yemen are experiencing severe hunger.

Irish Independent