NEW YORK CITY: Almost 310,000 people in Yemen have been driven from their homes since the start of August, the UN said on Wednesday.

It warned that the besieged city of Taiz was running out of basic goods as renewed fighting blocked roads and choked supply lines, and the prices of essential items had increased as much as fivefold, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Organizations that deliver flour and other staple foods the city’s markets depend on have pulled their trucks back to Al-Farsha, where they remain stranded.

“The collection of waste has also ground to a halt, with trucks prevented from reaching dumping sites,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. As a result, trash was piling up across the city, increasing the risk of disease, he added.

UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, said it was alarmed by an attack on Al-Suqyah Health Center in Lahj Governorate that reportedly killed five people, including healthcare workers. The facility, which the fund supports, serves more than 1,700 people, including children.

Aid agencies continued to reach people across the country with assistance despite the hostilities, Dujarric said; nearly 190,000 people have received food aid since August, and emergency cash assistance has been provided to almost 140,000.

The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, has registered nearly 5,400 newly displaced families for humanitarian financial assistance, 4,200 of whom have received it so far. It had also provided shelter cash for more than 2,100 families in Aden, Abyan and Lahj, and 3,000 relief kits were on their way to Aden.

Yet the gaps in assistance remained wide, Dujarric warned; about 37,000 families are still waiting for shelter support and 32,000 for basic household items.

“We reiterate our call for the protection of civilians and for safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access, particularly to communities increasingly isolated by ongoing hostilities,” he added.