ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani Parliament voted on Friday to stay out of the conflict in Yemen, but it urged the government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to play a diplomatic role in defusing the crisis.

The decision came as international aid agencies reported rising desperation in Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest country, where half the population suffered chronic shortages of basics before the conflict escalated last month.

While a limited amount of emergency medicine was airlifted into Sana, the capital, millions of Yemenis have little or no food, water and fuel; hundreds have been killed, and more than a quarter-million displaced. The United Nations humanitarian relief coordinator for Yemen, Johannes van der Klaauw, told reporters at a news conference in Geneva that the crisis was “getting worse by the hour.”

Analysts in the Arab world saw the Pakistani Parliament’s vote as a significant setback for Saudi Arabia, which is leading a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Saudi Arabia, a major donor to Pakistan, had incorrectly advertised Pakistani participation in the campaign from the night it began more than two weeks ago.