WFP terminates all Yemen operations in Houthi-controlled north as 22 million face hunger and Houthi forces resume missile strikes on Israel

Summary

The World Food Programme announced on 29 January 2026 that it was terminating all 365 staff contracts in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, after the Houthi authorities detained 73 UN staff members and seized WFP offices to gain control over aid distribution and financial flows. Northern Yemen accounts for approximately 70% of the country's humanitarian needs, and the shutdown left 18 million people with sharply reduced food assistance coverage. The WFP shutdown compounded an already-critical situation: OCHA's 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, released in March, documented 22 million Yemenis needing assistance and 18.3 million acutely food-insecure, with a US$2.16 billion appeal that was only 29% funded the prior year. The Houthis had paused attacks on Israeli and Red Sea shipping after the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire, but resumed ballistic missile and drone strikes on Israel in late March 2026, citing ceasefire violations. In late March and early April, the Houthis threatened to close the Bab al-Mandeb strait, through which approximately one trillion dollars in annual trade transits, if US-Israeli military operations against Yemen continued. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2812 extending the maritime monitoring mandate.

The split

The Houthis frame the aid detentions as a sovereignty measure to prevent UN agencies from bypassing local governance structures, and argue that international humanitarian operations were being weaponised to gather intelligence and undermine the de facto Houthi administration. The UN, WFP and rights organisations characterise the detentions as hostage-taking used to extract financial and operational control over aid flows, and document that Houthi interference in humanitarian operations had been building for years before the January 2026 shutdown. Western governments backing the UN position warn that the WFP shutdown will produce a famine-grade emergency within months in the north; regional Arab commentary notes that the US and Israeli military campaign against Yemen, which has continued intermittently since 2024, bears significant responsibility for the context that makes Houthi hardliners dominant within the movement.

By the numbers

• 365, WFP staff whose contracts were terminated in northern Yemen in January 2026
• 73, UN staff detained by Houthi authorities before the shutdown
• 18 million, Yemenis who lost WFP coverage in the north
• 22 million, total Yemenis requiring humanitarian assistance (OCHA March 2026)
• US$2.16bn, the 2026 Yemen humanitarian appeal (29% funded the prior year)
• One trillion USD, the approximate annual value of trade passing through Bab al-Mandeb

Why it matters

Yemen is one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies, and the WFP shutdown in the north risks turning a chronic crisis into an acute famine. The Houthi threat to close Bab al-Mandeb matters globally because the strait is a primary artery for energy shipments from the Gulf, container traffic between Asia and Europe, and grain from the Black Sea to Middle Eastern and African buyers. Houthi attacks have already pushed a significant portion of global container shipping onto the longer Cape of Good Hope route, adding time and cost to global supply chains. A full Bab al-Mandeb closure would be the most severe maritime disruption since the Suez Crisis.

What to watch

• Whether WFP can negotiate a return to northern Yemen or whether the aid vacuum persists and produces a famine declaration.
• Bab al-Mandeb: whether the Houthi threat to close the strait materialises into actual interdiction of non-Israeli shipping.
• The resumption of Israel-Houthi conflict and whether it triggers further US or allied military strikes on Yemen.
• UN Security Council action: whether any member state pushes for a resolution imposing humanitarian access conditions on the Houthis.