“I mortgaged my ID card so I could give birth.” Stories of displacement in Taiz
In a camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Taiz, a woman is counting her last days before giving birth. She has no water, no money, and nothing to mortgage this time. Two days ago, the roads around her city were closed.
Ruaa Ali, a displaced woman in a camp in Taiz, says: “We have no water, no water, and nothing.” She is in her ninth month, and she still remembers her past birth. That day the situation became difficult, so she was taken to the hospital. To pay for that night, she mortgaged her ID card and sold the little aid she received from an organization. When she is asked how she expects to give birth this time, she is silent for a moment and then says: “On God.” Her greatest fear is that the war will intensify and she will not be able to leave the camp when it is time for her to give birth.
The last road is closed
Ruaa is not the only one who fears the lack of access to appropriate medical services, especially with the closure of the last port to Taiz Governorate on the morning of Sunday, October 4, as Agence France-Presse quoted security sources as saying that the Ansar Allah group had cut off a supply road linking the main city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen and the city of Aden, where the internationally recognized government is based.
Government military sources and eyewitnesses said on Sunday that "the Houthis were able to cut off the Taiz-Aden road and impose a siege on Taiz after days of fighting." The sources confirmed that the Houthis were able to "reach the Al-Samsarah and Al-Safiya line, cut off the road and stop movement."
The Taiz Axis Government Command also closed the city's eastern exit "for security reasons." As a result, Taiz lost all ports through which supply trucks could pass, which began to raise concerns in the city that houses hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Medical supplies are running out
At Al-Thawra Hospital, the city's largest hospital, anxiety began to grow. Muhammad Al-Faqih, Director of Quality Management at the hospital, told the Middle East Diaries program that blocking roads in all directions has led to the deterioration of the health sector.
What he worries most about patients with chronic diseases, he says, is that their medications are running out, and he warns that this “will become clear within days.” He adds that medical supplies were already scarce before the siege.
A market racing in panic
In the city's markets, the scene changed within hours. One resident says that prices have more than doubled, especially vegetables, one day after the Ansar Allah group besieged the governorate.
He says: “People are afraid that goods will disappear, so they rush to buy what they can, and prices will rise even more.” He adds that gas and fuel were in short supply even before the siege, and their crisis has doubled now.
The same thing is confirmed by one of the merchants, who says that “after the closure of all parties and outlets, there is no place to receive goods from,” pointing to the expected losses as a result of this crisis.
As for Abdul Rahman Al-Qulaiah, Director of the Trade and Industry Office in Taiz Directorate, he believes that the situation “is still stable” and that prices have changed relatively as a result of the war conditions, but they are still within the official framework, as he put it.
He confirms that there are committees that monitor the markets to prevent monopoly, and that the governorate’s strategic reserve is sufficient. The increase is due to increased shipping and insurance costs, and citizens are urged not to rush or “panic” buy.
The price of a sack of flour weighing 50 kilograms is estimated to have increased by up to 1,000 riyals compared to its price before the escalation, when it reached about 50,000 riyals, equivalent to 212 dollars.
A city receiving displaced people
Ghadeer is a displaced woman who decided to leave her home after the intensification of the bombing. She describes the scene of her displacement as “terrifying,” especially with the interruption of transportation.
After many hours, she arrived at one of the Taiz camps, and she says that she was greatly affected by life in the tents, especially with the intense heat, and her crisis increases if rain falls that seeps into the tents.
Ghadeer says that she had to adapt to difficult conditions, but the difficulty of accessing health services, the lack of funds, and the lack of aid are what worry her most.
Ghadeer is one of thousands who carried what they could and fled from their homes after the battles intensified and approached them. On September 3 and 4 alone, 1,790 families were displaced from Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi, according to UN data.
The United Nations reported that entire displacement sites had been emptied of their residents, leaving them displaced for the second time.
Local officials estimate the number of displaced people from the seam areas inside Taiz at about 50,000 people, while the Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons' Camps in Yemen warned of the rapid escalation of displacement waves and the worsening humanitarian crisis, announcing an increase in the number of newly displaced people by the end of September 2026 to 197,906 individuals, amid warnings of a widening humanitarian gap.
