The United Nations said Yemen’s Houthis detained at least 11 workers on Sunday in raids on UN premises, which came after rebel authorities had made numerous arrests following Israel’s killing of their prime minister.
There has been no comment from Houthi authorities on the reported raids, but the Iran-backed group has previously arrested international aid workers.
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said in a statement: “I strongly condemn the new wave of arbitrary detentions of UN personnel today in Sanaa and Hodeida… as well as the forced entry into UN premises and seizure of UN property.”
He said that “at least 11 UN personnel were detained” and demanded that they be “immediately and unconditionally” released.
The Houthis were already detaining 23 UN personnel, some since 2021 and 2023, he added. In January, the Houthi rebels detained eight UN workers.
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The Houthis claimed arrests made in June 2024 included “an American-Israeli spy network” operating under the cover of humanitarian organizations — allegations emphatically rejected by the UN.
A man watches the news on TV, displaying footage of Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the Houthi-controlled government, who was killed, along with others, in August 28, 2025, in Israeli strikes on the capital, in Sanaa, Yemen, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Earlier on Sunday, the World Food Programme said one of its staff members had been detained in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
It said it was “urgently seeking additional information” from the Houthi authorities, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now control large parts of Yemen.
A security source in Sanaa told AFP that seven WFP employees and three UNICEF workers were arrested on Sunday after their offices had been raided.
The WFP statement said that “the arbitrary detention of humanitarian staff is unacceptable. The safety and security of personnel is essential to carrying out life-saving humanitarian work.”
Grundberg said the “arrests violate the fundamental obligation to respect and protect their (UN personnel) safety, dignity, and ability to carry out their essential work in Yemen.”
A decade of civil war has plunged Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than half of the population relying on aid.
Illustrative: Men carry humanitarian aid provided by a Kuwaiti charitable organization during a distribution to displaced Yemenis on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Marib on April 6, 2023. (Photo by STR / AFP)
The arrests last year prompted the United Nations to limit its deployments and suspend activities in some regions of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country.
‘Cowardly’ attack
On Saturday, a Yemeni security source told AFP that Houthi authorities had arrested dozens of people in Sanaa and other areas “on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.”
It came after Israel’s strike on Thursday that killed the Houthis’ prime minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, along with other officials.
The Iran-backed group on Sunday vowed to intensify its attacks on Israel after the killing of Rahawi, the most senior Houthi official known to have died since the group began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel, prompting retaliatory strikes by Israel.
A Sanaa resident, requesting anonymity for safety reasons, told AFP that striking a ministerial meeting was “cowardly and brutal,” expressing dismay at some in Yemen “who celebrate this violence.”
Ali, another resident of Sanaa who gave only his first name, denounced “a blatant attack… against our country’s sovereignty.”
A video posted online by a Yemeni comedian several hours after the announcement of Rahawi’s death has sparked uproar.
The comedian, Mohammed al-Adrei, who presents himself as an adviser to Yemen’s internationally recognised government that the Houthis oppose, filmed himself dancing to festive music in traditional clothes.
Writer Khaled al-Rowaishan responded on Facebook: “It is an absolute shame to celebrate the death of any Yemeni killed by Israeli missiles.”
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