A Yemeni soldier, loyal to the Shiite Houthi movement, walks next to humanitarian aid supplies given by the Russian humanitarian relief mission in a camp on the outskirts of the capital Sanaa on March 16, 2017.

:: Yemeni Deputy Minister of Local Administration Abdulsalam Baabood has said that Houthi militias and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Salah have so far looted 63 aid ships and confiscated 550 humanitarian relief packages meant for the Yemeni people since the conflict began.

Baabood, who attended a symposium titled “The Houthi Project… starvation and impoverishment,” said that Houthi actions have left more than 20 million Yemenis in need of urgent assistance, in addition to more than 24 million who need immediate health care services.

Houthi and Saleh militias have not only caused a famine that has threatened the lives of millions in Yemen and deprived employees of their salaries for more than eight months, but also looted the aid that is supposed to ease the suffering of Yemen’s innocent people.

A cholera outbreak in war-ravaged Yemen has killed 242 people, and left nearly 23,500 others sick in the past three weeks alone, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The UN health agency said that in the past day alone, 20 cholera deaths and 3,460 suspected cases had been registered in the country, where two-thirds of the population are on the brink of famine.