Two more patients died while being transferred to another hospital, and five patients remain hospitalized.
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Yemen has been torn apart by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels, allied with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh loyalists, captured large swaths of the country, including the capital Sanaa. The Arab coalition began launching airstrikes in support of the Sunni government against the Shiite Houthi minority rebels in March 2015.
“The people of Yemen continue to bear the brunt of the suffering as a result of the inability of the parties to find a political solution to a conflict that has been raging for more than a year and a half”, he said.
Teresa Sancristoval, MSF emergency program manager for Yemen, said it was the fourth attack on an MSF-supported medical facility in Yemen in the past 12 months.
“Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital”.
“Medical teams have not yet been able to enter the hospital”, he said in a statement carried by the rebel sabanews.Net website, adding that coalition warplanes were still flying over the area. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The coalition assessment team has opened an investigation into these reports as a matter of urgency and is seeking additional information, in particular from Medecins Sans Frontieres, the statement said.
The attack comes less than 48 hours after MSF said that Saudi airstrikes on a school in the northern province of Sa’ada killed 10 children.
The coalition denied this, saying instead it had bombed a camp at which Iran-backed rebels were training underage soldiers.
“UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to respect and abide by their obligations under global law”, including the obligation to only target combatants and limit harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, the statement said.
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Ayman Mazkour, who heads the health sector in Hajja province, said six people were killed and 20 wounded in the aerial attack, warning that the death toll could rise.
