Iran Press/ Middle East: Living in the capital Sanaa after fleeing his hometown four years ago, Ismail Hassan is one of the millions of Yemenis battling increasing poverty and hunger as peace eludes the seven-year conflict and cash-strapped aid organizations struggling to keep assistance flowing.
Since January, the World Food Programme (WFP) has reduced food rations for 8 million people due to funding shortages, warning that the cuts would push more people into starvation.
Hassan says he strives to put food in their mouths over a communal lunch of rice and bread in the tiny former shop but can give little else.
"The most important thing to me is providing them with food," he said, adding that he cannot afford to put his seven school-aged children into education, even in government schools.
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He said the family has been getting some food aid every two months, but it is not enough."A sack and half of wheat, two cans of (cooking) oil, a bag of salt, a bag of sugar, and a bag of lentils. That's it," he said inside his sparse, crowded shelter.
In their old home in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Hassan said they had food before war forced them to move."We used to have meat, fish, chicken, molokhiya ... There was everything. But now circumstances have imposed this on us."
Fighting, inflation, displacement, and impediments to imports have plunged the already developing country into hunger. Around 5 million are at risk of famine, the WFP has said.
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