Half of Yemen's population will suffer from hunger next year due to lack of international support, the United Nations haswarned.

Iran PressMiddle East: "In Yemen, the UN response plan remains less than half-funded, it's funded at 49%," the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters Wednesday.

"The total plan calls for more than 3 billion US dollars. The current level today is less than half as much as agencies received last year," Dujarric continued.

"We're now helping only about 9 million people every month, down from a peak of 13 million earlier this year," he said. "More than 80 percent of Yemenis need humanitarian assistance and protection. Next year, more than half of all Yemenis will go hungry, and we expect 5 million people to be living just one step away from famine and about 50,000 people to be living in famine-like conditions," Dujarric reiterated.

Saudi Arabia, with the support of the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and several other countries, has launched a military invasion of Yemen since March 2015 and put it under land, sea, and air siege.

The war by Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen has so far killed more than 16,000 Yemenis, injured tens of thousands, and displaced millions of Yemenis.

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