Saudi-led coalition kills 42 Yemenis, including children, in one week

Airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition have killed 42 civilians in Yemen over the past week, with multiple children among the dead, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.

"In the week from August 17 to August 24, 58 civilians have been killed, including 42 by the Saudi-led coalition," spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva.

The UN toll counted a series of strikes on Wednesday, including an attack on a hotel in Sanaa Governorate that killed 33 people and a separate strike on a house, also in Sanaa, that left six people dead.

There were "horrific scenes" as witnesses said multiple airstrikes hit a housing unit for workers from a nearby qat farm on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, "a woman and two children were killed and two women and two children were injured when an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a house in Talan village" in Sanaa Governorate, according to a rights office statement.

"In all these cases, in which civilians were killed and injured, witnesses said that there had been no warnings that an attack was imminent," it added.

According to UNHCR's Protection Cluster Yemen group, there have been 5,676 airstrikes so far in 2017 – a monthly average of 946.

There have been 5,676 airstrikes so far in 2017 – a monthly average of 946

International rights groups have accused the Saudi-led coalition of bombing civilian areas including public gatherings, markets, hospitals and residential areas across Yemen since the aerial campaign against Houthi rebels began in 2015.

Read also: Saudi-led coalition responsible for killing of hundreds of children in Yemen

UN figures suggest more than 10,000 people have been killed and thousands more wounded since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened on behalf of the internationally recognised government.

The ongoing war has plunged Yemen into one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history.

War has also unleashed a deadly cholera epidemic in the country – one which has been described by humanitarian groups as a direct result of the war.

Meanwhile, as Yemen plunges further into chaos and as dozens more are killed, the Saudi monarch King Salman – whose government is also responsible for forcing at least three million Yemenis into displacement – splurged $100 million on a holiday in Morocco.

Arriving at Tangier airport accompanied by an entourage of around 1,000 people in late July, the king was greeted by Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani before cruising to his 74-acre purpose-built summer palace where the royal entourage booked 800 hotel rooms, leased 200 cars and employed top catering companies.

	Read more on the crisis in Yemen here