GENEVA: Yemen’s cholera outbreak is far from being controlled and may be further exacerbated by the rainy season, even if the rate of new cases appears to be slowing in some hotspots, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Oxfam projected the number could rise to more than 600,000 cases, “the largest ever recorded in any country in a single year since records began,” exceeding Haiti in 2011.
Nigel Timmins, the charity’s humanitarian director who has just returned from Yemen said: “Cholera has spread unchecked in a country already on its knees after two years of war. For many people, weakened by war and hunger, cholera is the knockout blow.”
The WHO reported 368,207 suspected cases and 1,828 deaths in the country since late April.
“Every day we have 5,000 more Yemenis falling sick with symptoms of acute watery diarrhea or cholera,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing in Geneva.
“Yemen’s cholera outbreak is far from being controlled, the rainy season has just started and may increase the paths of transmission. Sustained efforts are required to stop the spread of this disease,” she said.
Millions are malnourished in Yemen, the UN says. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015, backing government forces fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels
Surveillance data “confirms a slight decline in suspected cases over the past two weeks” in some of the most affected governorates — Amanat Al-Asimah, Amran and Sanaa — Chaib said.
But great caution was called for as there is a backlog in reporting and data is still being analyzed, she said.
Largest outbreak
Oxfam, which is based in Britain, said Yemen’s rainy season from July to September would increase the risk of the disease spreading further through water contaminated with faeces.
“It is feared that the total number of people infected could eventually rise to over 600,000, making it one of the largest outbreaks since records began in 1949,” Oxfam said.
The WHO did not provide its latest planning figure.
“The kind of disintegration of the health system in Yemen as a result of the conflict at a time of cholera is an absolutely lethal combination,” UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told Friday’s briefing.
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Yemen cholera to spread with rains; Oxfam sees 600,000 cases
Yemen cholera to spread with rains; Oxfam sees 600,000 cases
Israeli police detain aide to Netanyahu
JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Sunday they detained a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspected of obstructing an investigation, with local media reporting that it was tied to leaks of military information during the Gaza war.
Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel’s next ambassador to the UK.
“This morning, a senior official in the prime minister’s office was detained for questioning... on suspicion of obstructing an investigation,” the police said.
“The suspect... is currently being questioned under caution.”
Former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein recently alleged that Braverman tried to obstruct an investigation into a leak of sensitive military information to the foreign press during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
In September 2024, Feldstein leaked a classified document from the Israeli military to the German tabloid Bild, for which he was later arrested and indicted.
The document aimed to prove that Hamas was not interested in a ceasefire deal, and to support Netanyahu’s claim that the hostages captured by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel could only be released through military pressure instead of negotiations.
In an interview with Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet with him soon after the leak.
Braverman informed him that the army had launched a probe into the affair, and said he could “shut down” the investigation, according to Feldstein.
In the same interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was aware of the leak and was in favor of using the document to drum up public support for the war.
Israeli media reported that police also searched Braverman’s home on Sunday, and that Feldstein was expected to speak with police later in the day regarding Braverman’s suspected involvement in the affair.
Feldstein is also a suspect in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, in which he and other close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy’s image in Israel.
Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement during the war in Gaza.
An investigation is under way, and Feldstein, together with another Netanyahu aide, was taken into custody in late March.
In response to Braverman’s questioning by the police on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid called to suspend his appointment as ambassador to the UK.
“In light of the new developments in the Qatargate affair, the appointment of Tzachi Braverman as ambassador to Britain must be immediately suspended,” Lapid wrote on X.
“It is unacceptable that someone suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.”
Braverman is not suspected of direct involvement in the Qatargate affair, according to Israeli media.
Police did not name the individual, but Israeli media reported it was Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s current chief of staff, who is designated to be Israel’s next ambassador to the UK.
“This morning, a senior official in the prime minister’s office was detained for questioning... on suspicion of obstructing an investigation,” the police said.
“The suspect... is currently being questioned under caution.”
Former Netanyahu aide Eli Feldstein recently alleged that Braverman tried to obstruct an investigation into a leak of sensitive military information to the foreign press during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
In September 2024, Feldstein leaked a classified document from the Israeli military to the German tabloid Bild, for which he was later arrested and indicted.
The document aimed to prove that Hamas was not interested in a ceasefire deal, and to support Netanyahu’s claim that the hostages captured by Palestinian militants in their October 7, 2023 assault on Israel could only be released through military pressure instead of negotiations.
In an interview with Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet with him soon after the leak.
Braverman informed him that the army had launched a probe into the affair, and said he could “shut down” the investigation, according to Feldstein.
In the same interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was aware of the leak and was in favor of using the document to drum up public support for the war.
Israeli media reported that police also searched Braverman’s home on Sunday, and that Feldstein was expected to speak with police later in the day regarding Braverman’s suspected involvement in the affair.
Feldstein is also a suspect in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, in which he and other close associates of Netanyahu are suspected of having been recruited by Qatar to promote the Gulf monarchy’s image in Israel.
Qatar hosts senior Hamas leaders and has played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement during the war in Gaza.
An investigation is under way, and Feldstein, together with another Netanyahu aide, was taken into custody in late March.
In response to Braverman’s questioning by the police on Sunday, opposition leader Yair Lapid called to suspend his appointment as ambassador to the UK.
“In light of the new developments in the Qatargate affair, the appointment of Tzachi Braverman as ambassador to Britain must be immediately suspended,” Lapid wrote on X.
“It is unacceptable that someone suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of the most important countries in Europe.”
Braverman is not suspected of direct involvement in the Qatargate affair, according to Israeli media.
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