The UN has announced today that at least eleven employees were arrested by Houthi rebels in the capital Sanaaa and Hondaida, two cities controlled by the pro -aging guerrillas.

“At least 11 United Nations staff has been arrested,” UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grudberg, said in a statement, “condemning the new wave of arbitrary arrests of United Nations staff who took place today in Sanai and Sanai. United Nations facilities and the seizure of UN property. “

Earlier today, the World Food Program (WFP) announced the arrest of a worker by the Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, citing fears and other members of the organization’s staff in other parts of the country.

The WFP offices in Sanai “received a raid on local security forces, which arrested a member of the staff, with reports of further arrests (WFP staff) in other areas,” the WFP said in a statement sent to the French Agency.

Following an Israeli raid on Sanaaa on Thursday that killed Prime Minister Houtha, a Yemeni security source told the French Agency that seven WFP employees and three UNICEF employees were arrested today after raising their offices.

Earlier, the German News Agency (DPA) had reported that Houthi rebels had raised today at the offices of two United Nations Relief Services in Sanaai and arrested workers. Armed Forces connected to Houthi stormed into WFP and UNICEF offices in the city, a source that was affiliated with service workers told the DPA and who did not want to be named. The gunmen arrested seven WFP workers and three people working for UNICEF and transported them to an unknown location, according to the source.

The UN announced at the end of January that eight of its workers in Yemen had been arrested by Houthi, who are already holding dozens of UN workers and humanitarian organizations since June 2024.

In June, UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres demanded “their immediate and unconditional liberation” and regretted the “painful tragedy” of the death of a WFP official during his earlier detention. Houthi justified June’s arrests, speaking of an “American-Israeli espionage network” operating under the coverage of humanitarian organizations, categories that are categorically rejected by the UN.

Ten years of civil war have plunged Yemen into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, according to the UN.

These arrests last year led the UN to restrict staff developments and to suspend its activities in some areas of the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula.