In the al-Silw district of Yemen’s southwestern governorate of Taiz, 58-year-old Abdullah al-Eissi spent more than two weeks confined to his bed as his body gradually failed. Living with kidney failure for two years, his physician had prescribed twice-weekly dialysis at al-Jumhuri Hospital in Taiz city. Intensified fighting and a tightening siege, however, made the journey too dangerous for his family to attempt.
“My father’s condition deteriorated badly,” said his son, Muadh al-Eissi. “We couldn’t move him to Taiz because the fighting had intensified.” About a week ago, the elder al-Eissi died at home. “When I saw my mother weeping for her husband, I felt helpless,” his son said. “It might have been avoided if my father had reached his dialysis sessions on time.”
Abdullah al-Eissi is among at least 10 dialysis patients who have died since the blockade on Taiz began because they could not reach medical treatment, according to Dr. Issam Mahyoub, director of the kidney dialysis center at al-Jumhuri Hospital. Hospital director Dr. Fouad al-Haddad warned that the crisis extends far beyond a single facility. “About 60 percent of kidney failure patients in Taiz face the risk of death because they cannot reach the dialysis center,” al-Haddad said. “Behind every number is a human being and a family living in anxiety, waiting for a chance to continue treatment that may never come.”
The medical crisis in Taiz unfolds against the backdrop of a broader regional war triggered by an unprovoked attack against Iran by Israel and the United States in February. Estimates indicate that more than 10,000 people have died across the region in the ensuing conflict. In Yemen, where the conflict reignited this summer, the World Health Organization reports that at least 800 people have been killed, thousands wounded, and tens of thousands displaced.
Analysts note that local populations are bearing the brunt of broader geopolitical maneuvers. “The plight of dialysis patients in Taiz illustrates how geopolitical struggles over deterrence, energy security, and regional leverage translate into blocked transit, disrupted medical care, and preventable deaths,” said Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy. “Yemen’s population has already endured more than a decade of devastating war, and the tragedy is that this wider regional conflict is now threatening to plunge it back into another humanitarian catastrophe.”
Yemen’s involvement in the wider war escalated in March when the Iran-aligned Ansarallah movement, known as the Houthis, began firing missiles toward Israel in response to attacks on Iran, later expanding operations against shipping channels around the Arabian Peninsula. A fragile 2022 truce frayed further in July after a Houthi attack on a Saudi regional airport, followed by August ground, drone, and missile exchanges against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. In September, Houthi forces seized strategic coastal areas, blocked the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and fired deeper into Saudi Arabia. In response, government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition launched an operation in early October to retake the coast and advance toward Sana’a. As insurgents pushed into the highlands surrounding Taiz, they severed the main mountain road linking the city to Aden, trapping more than 600,000 residents and driving up food and fuel prices.
Tawfiq al-Humaidi, head of the Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, pointed to the regional drivers of the local blockade. “We have confirmed cases of death and cases of severe impact,” al-Humaidi said, noting that fighting on roads near Taiz has cut off vital medical supplies. “Those who are dying and suffering are among the victims of the Iranian war, which drove the Houthis to expand toward Taiz and Bab al-Mandeb.” On October 14, the Yemeni government formally petitioned the U.N. Security Council for immediate intervention to lift the siege.
For patients attempting to reach al-Jumhuri Hospital—which serves patients from the West Coast, al-Mawasit, Jabal Habashi, al-Shamayatayn, Sama, al-Silw, al-Misrakh, and al-Maafer—the physical toll is severe. The center has 270 registered patients, but many more from outlying areas cannot make the trip. Among them is 33-year-old Ahlam Ali Abdo, who walks roughly 30 kilometers from her village in Jabal Habashi. Navigating rough terrain amidst active gunfire and shelling takes between five and nine hours each way. “I cry constantly of pain and exhaustion and worry that I wouldn’t be able to see my children again. My condition is miserable,” Abdo said. Her husband remains home with their children to keep them safe, while fellow patients and center staff have periodically stepped in to help her secure temporary shelter in the city.
Even for those who successfully reach the facility, treatment is compromised. Severe diesel shortages to run hospital generators have forced physicians to cut standard four-hour dialysis sessions down to two hours, according to Mahyoub. Regular shipments of supplies from the Ministry of Health in Aden have stalled, leaving remaining inventories nearly depleted. The Office of Public Health and Population in Aden warned of an impending catastrophe, stating that medicines, solutions, and fuel are nearing exhaustion across city health facilities, placing emergency rooms, surgeries, intensive care units, and neonatal incubators at risk.
Alternative routes have offered little relief. The Taiz-Aden road remains unusable, forcing travelers onto winding mountain detours that add significant transport costs and run near active clashes. The crisis also extends beyond Taiz governorate; Dr. Anis al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Sana’a, reported that more than 8,000 kidney failure patients in Houthi-controlled governorates are suffering due to blocked hemodialysis machines and medicine imports compounded by the closure of Sana’a airport.
“Kidney failure knows no political barriers,” Mahyoub said. “Patients cannot wait for disputes to be settled or for circumstances to change before they get treatment.”
