The inspirational strength of the victims of Houthi landmines in Yemen

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Updated 03 April 2023
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The inspirational strength of the victims of Houthi landmines in Yemen

  • Men and women of all ages share their stores and tell how they are rebuilding their lives after terrible injuries

RIYADH: When one first meets the victims of landmines and other explosive devices in Yemen, there are often smiles on their faces. But as one spends more time with them, and listens to their harrowing stories, it is hard to avoid the feeling that they have lost all hope.

As they recall the details of the life-changing incidents that caused often devastating injuries, and describe their daily struggles to overcome the disabilities they have been left with, the smiles disappear, replaced by tears for their own plight and that of their war-torn country.

Amal, a young women from Taiz, was preparing for her wedding when a chance encounter with an unexploded shell changed everything.

“I went to the city’s entrance to take care of some things for my wedding, as one of the neighborhood’s young men, who is an expat living outside Yemen, had asked for my hand in marriage,” she said. 

“While I was out, I came across some children who had a suspicious object. It looked like something my father had been holding a while ago. He had warned us against touching these weird objects we might see in the streets.

“I was scared for the children’s safety and hurried to take it from them so it wouldn’t explode and hurt them. However, one of the playful children jumped and forcibly snatched it out of my hand, causing it to fall to the ground and explode. I no longer felt anything until I woke up at the hospital, where I realized that my arm and eye had been injured … I had to wear a prosthetic eye.”

Amal said the accident had a huge effect on her life.

“My fiance cut contact with us and my marriage never happened,” she said. “After a while, we heard that he got engaged to another girl.

“I decided to continue my university studies. However, in the beginning I faced a lot of bullying at university and on the streets. The questions I was asked were very difficult and I wanted to stop going to university, but my father supported me until I graduated from university and worked at a private school.

“This explosion affected my ability to deal with people, as I was afraid to talk to them. It destroyed my life.”

Jamila Qassem Maheeb, who is in a wheelchair, began to weep as soon as she started to share her story.

“I went out to bring back my sheep from an area close to my house,” she said. “I took the same road I always take. On my way back home, I stepped on a mine with my left leg. The mine exploded and threw me up in the air and I landed on a second mine that hit my right leg.

“I started shouting for people to help me and they took me to the hospital. I was not aware of where I was or what had happened to me until I discovered that I will not be able to walk ever again and that this wheelchair will stay with me forever.

“I used to comfortably walk around the area. Now, however, I am no longer comfortable as I am confined to this wheelchair. I used to walk and herd my sheep but now I cannot do that.

“This mine has dramatically affected me. I miss everything in this life. You feel like you are dead while alive. How can I be comfortable?”

Maheeb said the hostilities in Yemen “leave everyone, men and women, young and old, either injured or disabled. They are killing people in their houses, on their farms and at their workplaces. However, those who suffer the most are the children, women and civilians.”

After suffering his own traumatic experience, Omar Bashir Saeed, a child from Taiz governorate, now dreams helping others by becoming a doctor who specializes in landmine injuries.




Omar Bashir Saeed, a child from Taiz governorate. (Supplied)

“I was playing on the street when a missile hit us,” he said. “I did not realize what happened and I still don’t know how we reached the hospital. I then discovered that my foot was amputated and I freaked out.

“However, I got used to my new situation, one day after another. I am no longer playing as much as I used to. Sometimes, playing with my friends might worsen the case of my foot, so I leave them to play without me.”

Yet brave Omar says that feels he got off relatively lightly compared with some of his friends who were with him at the time of the incident.

“I am doing much better than them, as some of them can no longer walk … while others are paralyzed,” he said. “My condition is better than theirs.

“I dream of becoming a doctor in the future to help those who are injured and lose limbs due to mines. I hope I excel in my school studies, and at university, so I can make my dream come true.”

Hamza Mohammed Ghaleb said that when combatants plant mines, the victims are always children, women, civilians and the elderly. He speaks from personal experience.

“We were gathered at my cousin’s house and upon exiting the house I was walking in front, and I suddenly felt that I was stepping on a mine planted in the road,” he said.

“I was taken to the hospital and when I woke up from the anesthesia I was told my foot had been amputated. The mine affected my studies as I couldn’t go to school, to the supermarket or do anything else.

“After I received the prosthesis, my life returned to normal and I went back to school and to my friends.”

Despite the adversity she has faced, Hadeel Mohammed Abdul Wase, from Al-Kedha, was perhaps the boldest and most self-confident all the people we met. She told how she was left in a coma after a missile strike hit her home at about 3.00 a.m. one night.




Hadeel Mohammed Abdul Wase, from Al-Kedha. (Supplied)

“My uncle and villagers took me to the hospital located in the nearest city,” she said. “Two days after the incident, I woke up from my coma to realize that both of my hands had been amputated.

“I asked my mom: ‘How will I ever be able to write again?’ I started imagining how I would face life and I couldn’t believe that I lost both hands to the missile.

“I finally managed to adapt to my new life after facing very challenging obstacles at first, as I couldn’t eat or drink. I used to rely on my mother until I finally managed to rely on myself.”

There is still some anger about what happened to her but Abdul Wase directs her rage toward the Houthis.

“Instead of planting seeds of hope in our land, they are planting seeds of obscenity and evil,” she said. “Our land is no longer safe. We are stepping on exploding mines. We have lost all forms of safety.

“The majority of the people have lost an arm or a leg, while others met death, lost sight or other parts of their bodies. The world is no longer a safe place.

“They select the paths people take as locations to plant chains of mines instead of a single exploding device. They are ruthless and cold-hearted. All they want is to raze the nation to the ground, including military personnel and citizens.”

Abdul Wase said she fears what the long-term effects of the violence will be on her country and its people.

“Mines leave no space for the future; with all these explosions, deaths, and wounds, is there really any future left in Yemen?” she asked.

“The seeds of failure are planted in our land. Plant hope and future seeds instead of these demolishing mines. There is no future in Yemen until mines are completely removed from our land.”

Mohamed Saleh Maraani, who lives in Moussa district, says: “The terrorist Houthi militia had reached us … and planted mines on roads and in houses, farms, schools, water wells and hospitals. We could not return to our homes, to our mosques, and to our schools. Our ways of life were destroyed.

“When the Masam (mine-clearance) teams arrived, they opened the roads and secured the schools so that the educational process can resume. They secured the houses and surveyed them; thus, we were able to return to our areas safely.”


UN chief calls for probe into deaths near Gaza aid site

Updated 02 June 2025
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UN chief calls for probe into deaths near Gaza aid site

  • Antonio Guterres says he is appalled by reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid
  • Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah

GAZA: UN chief Antonio Guterres called Monday for an independent investigation into the killing of dozens of Palestinians near a US-backed aid center in Gaza after rescuers blamed the deaths on Israeli fire and the military denied any involvement.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near the aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, with AFP photos showing civilians at the scene carting away bodies and medics at nearby hospitals reporting a deluge of gunshot wound victims.
The Israeli military, however, denied its troops had fired on civilians in or around the center, and both it and the aid site’s administrator accused Hamas of sowing false rumors.
“I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said in a statement, without assigning blame for the deaths.
“I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
The Israeli government has cooperated with the group running the site, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to introduce a new mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system.
The UN has declined to work with the group out of concerns about its neutrality, with some aid agencies saying it appears designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
An eyewitness from the scene in Rafah, Sameh Hamuda, 33, had told AFP he was headed toward the aid site amid a crowd of other Palestinians when “quadcopter drones opened fire on the people, and tanks started shooting.”
“Several people were killed right in front of me,” he said.
Another witness, Abdullah Barbakh, 58, also told AFP “the army opened fire from drones and tanks.”
Following the reports, the Israeli army said an initial inquiry found its troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site.”
Army spokesman Effie Defrin said in a video message that “Hamas is doing its best, its utmost, to stop us from” distributing aid, and vowed to “investigate each one of those allegations” against Israeli troops.
“I urge you not to believe every rumor spread by Hamas,” he added.
GHF also denied any deaths or injuries took place, adding that “these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas.”
Israel has come under increasing international pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza following a more than two-month blockade on aid that was only recently eased.
The UN has warned the entire population of the territory is facing the risk of famine.
It has also reported recent incidents of aid being looted, including by armed individuals.


Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and the return of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 2023 attack that triggered the war have failed to produce a breakthrough.
Militants took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
After the two sides failed to agree on a new ceasefire proposal last week, Hamas said it was ready to “immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said he had told the army “to continue forward in Gaza against all targets, regardless of any negotiations.”
Since a brief truce collapsed in March, Israel has intensified its operations to destroy Hamas.
On Monday, Gaza’s civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said 14 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza, “including six children and three women, in addition to more than 20 missing individuals still under the rubble.”
“This house has been bombed before... and people were martyred previously,” resident Mousa Al-Bursh told AFP.
“The house primarily belongs to the Al-Bursh family, but it shelters many others, more than one family, and we don’t know the number of victims inside.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,201 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,470, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.


Nearly 41% of kidney patients died in Gaza as Israel destroys major dialysis center

Updated 02 June 2025
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Nearly 41% of kidney patients died in Gaza as Israel destroys major dialysis center

  • Israeli forces destroyed the Noura Al-Kaabi Dialysis Center in northern Gaza
  • The facility was damaged amid the war and remained standing among the heavily ruined area of Beit Lahiya

LONDON: Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip revealed on Sunday that nearly half of the kidney failure patients in the coastal enclave have died since October 2023 amid ongoing Israeli attacks and restrictions on humanitarian and medical aid.

Israeli attacks on hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza barred 41 percent of kidney patients from accessing life-saving dialysis treatment, resulting in their deaths, according to the Wafa news agency.

On Saturday, Israeli forces destroyed the Noura Al-Kaabi Dialysis Center in northern Gaza, one of the few specialized facilities providing kidney dialysis to 160 patients.

Video footage appears to show Israeli military excavators completely demolishing the facility that was partly damaged amid the war and remained standing among the heavily ruined area of Beit Lahiya.

“The destruction of this center is a catastrophic blow to the health system,” a Palestinian medical source told Wafa, warning of dire consequences for the remaining kidney patients in Gaza.

“This is a disaster with consequences we cannot yet fully comprehend,” they added.


Israeli strike on Gaza kills 14 Palestinians, mostly women and children, hospitals say

Palestinians react at the site of an Israeli strike on a mosque, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, June 2, 2025.
Updated 02 June 2025
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Israeli strike on Gaza kills 14 Palestinians, mostly women and children, hospitals say

  • Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH: An Israeli strike on a residential building in the Gaza Strip on Monday killed 14 people, mostly women and children, according to health officials.
The Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, saying five women and seven children were among those killed.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group is entrenched in populated areas.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas is still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of the population.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned, and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. It has said it will maintain control of Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what it refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population.
Palestinians and most of the international community have rejected the resettlement plans, viewing them as forcible expulsion.


Iraq probes fish die-off in southern marshes

Updated 02 June 2025
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Iraq probes fish die-off in southern marshes

NAJAF: Iraqi authorities on Monday launched a probe into a mass die-off of fish in the southern marshlands, the latest in a string of such events in recent years.
One possible cause for the localized die-off could be a shortage of oxygen sparked by low water flow, increased evaporation and rising temperatures fueled by climate change.
Another possible reason could be chemicals used by fishermen to make it easier to catch their prey, local officials and activists told AFP.
AFP images showed large quantities of silver fish floating in the marshlands of Ibn Najm near the southern city of Najaf.
Buffaloes could be seen surrounded by dead fish, trying to cool themselves off in the water.
“We have received several citizens’ complaints,” said chief environmental officer in Najaf, Jamal Abd Zeid, adding that a technical inspection team had been set up.
An AFP photographer at the site saw a team of civil servants collecting water from the marshland.
Among the issues the team was tasked with probing, Abd Zeid said, were a shortage of water, electrical fishing and the use by fishermen of “poisons.”
For at least five years, Iraq has been hit by successive droughts fueled by climate change.
Authorities also blame the construction of dams by neighboring Iran and Turkiye for the drastic drop in flow in Iraq’s rivers.
The destruction of Iraq’s natural environment is only the latest layer of suffering imposed on a country that has endured decades of war and political oppression.
“We need lab tests to determine the exact cause” of the fish die-off, said environmental activist Jassim Assadi.
A lack of oxygen caused by low water flow, heat, evaporation and wind were all possible reasons, he said.
He said agricultural pesticides could also have led to the mass die-off.
Probes into other similar events showed the use of poison in fishing led to mass deaths.
“It is dangerous for public health, as well as for the food chain,” Assadi said.
“Using poison today, then again in a month or two... It’s going to accumulate.”


Medical NGO blames new US aid group for deadly Gaza chaos

Updated 02 June 2025
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Medical NGO blames new US aid group for deadly Gaza chaos

  • Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organizations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new US-backed organization reported being “shot from all sides” by Israeli forces.
The NGO, known by its French name MSF, blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli fire killed 31 Palestinians at the site. Witnesses told AFP the Israeli military had opened fire.
The GHF and Israeli authorities denied any such incident took place but MSF and other medics reported treating crowds of locals with gunshot wounds at the Nasser hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis.
“Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,” MSF said in a statement.
MSF emergency coordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF’s system of aid delivery “dehumanizing, dangerous and severely ineffective.”
“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organizations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively.”
MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds in their limbs.”
MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid.
“They told us to take food — then they fired from every direction,” he said. “This isn’t aid. It’s a lie.”
The Israeli military said an initial inquiry found its troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site.”
A GHF spokesperson said: “These fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas,” the Islamic militant group that Israel has vowed to destroy in Gaza.