Alwaght- Nearly 1,200 children have been killed in Yemen, most in airstrikes by the Saudi military coalition, according to the latest UN figures on the three-year aggression.
Based on interviews with survivors, witnesses and family members as well as site visits, a report by the UN's Human Rights Council (HRC) reveals an escalation in hostilities in the country, with more airstrikes in the first half of this year than in all of 2016.
Children account for 1,184 of those killed and 1,592 injured, mostly from coalition airstrikes, the UN report said. Information gathered by the UN human rights office shows apparent indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations with civilians directly targeted by Saudi-led bombardments
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein says it is crucial for an independent international investigation to be established into the very serious human rights and humanitarian law violations in Yemen.
The past year has seen widespread Saudi airstrikes against markets, hospitals, schools and residential areas as well as on funerals and small civilian boats.
The deteriorating situation in Yemen is now the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with close to 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid; 7 million on the brink of famine; and an estimated 540,000 suffering from cholera.
A Saudi-led coalition started a bloody aggression on Yemen in March 2015 to oust the popular Ansarullah movement and restore to power fugitive Abdul Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who resigned as president and fled to Riyadh. The Saudis have failed to achieve their stated objective and are now stuck in the Yemen quagmire while indiscriminately bombarding the impoverished stated on an almost daily basis.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates more than 10,000 civilians have been killed and 47,800 wounded since the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen. Independent estimates put the death toll of the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen at over 13,000 mostly civilians including women, children and the elderly.
