The Saudi-led coalition has announced that it will start a five-day humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen.

The statement on Saudi state media said the pause in fighting, which is due to begin at one minute before midnight on Sunday night, came at the request of embattled Yemeni president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to Saudi’s King Salman.



It said the coalition would cease military operations, but that it would respond should Shiite Houthi rebels or their allies conduct any military actions or movements.



The previous humanitarian pause, which was announced earlier this month and was expected to last until the end of the holy month of Ramadan, never truly took hold as parties to the conflict traded accusations.

The announcement followed air strikes that security and medical officials said killed at least 120 people in a residential area of a town on the Red Sea coast on Friday.

The air strikes hit workers’ housing near a power plant in Mokha on Friday, razing some of the buildings, the officials said.

The deadly strike highlights growing concerns that the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing raids are increasingly killing civilians as they continue to target rebels.

“It just shows what is the trend now of the air strikes from the coalition,” said Hassan Boucenine of the Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders. “Now, it’s a house, it’s a market, it’s anything.”

He added that many of the workers had families visiting for the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Mokha, populated largely by fisherman, had a reputation as one of the safest places in the country embroiled in war, said Boucenine.

Saudi officials could not be reached for comment, and the government’s official media did not issue a statement about the deadly strike.



Over the course of the war, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have expressed concern that the Saudi-led coalition is violating laws of war and not doing enough to prevent civilian casualties.

It is not clear why the workers’ housing was hit. Yemeni security officials said the closest Houthi outpost to Friday evening’s strike was at least three miles away.



Four air strikes hit the residence after Saudi-led coalition planes launched dozens of missiles on rebel positions and their allies in the surrounding area. The strikes in the area continued on Saturday as dozens of families fled, security officials and eyewitnesses said.

A military official said the coalition had been given incorrect coordinates. He denied the coordinates had come from anyone in the district and said he called the coalition to inform them of the high number of civilian casualties.



All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters.

Boucenine said the hospital in Mokha had closed weeks prior due to a lack of medical supplies and staff. Some of the injured died en route to the hospital in the city of Hodeida, 112 miles north.



The provincial capital of Taiz was inaccessible due to ongoing fighting. Boucenine said the hospital confirmed 44 fatalities, though he expected the actual toll was significantly higher.

Deif Allah al-Shamy, a Houthi leader, called Friday’s strike “an ugly crime and a flagrant violation of human rights”.

Houthi rebels have also been criticised by rights groups for causing civilian casualties. They shelled a town outside Aden earlier this week after losing control of some of the port city’s neighbourhoods, killing nearly 100 people, Doctors Without Borders said.

Since 26 March, at least 1,693 civilians have been killed in the Yemen fighting, with 3,829 wounded, the UN said earlier this week.



It said civilians have been killed by mortar fire and ground fighting though “the majority of the casualties are reported to have been caused by air strikes”.

The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled president Hadi, who is now in Saudi Arabia.

The UN human rights office said in a statement this week that “since 17 June, there has been further destruction of civilian infrastructure, with at least 36 buildings, including hospitals, schools, court houses, power generation facilities and communications institutions partially or totally damaged”.