The number of people displaced by the latest military escalation in Yemen has exceeded 200,000, according to government estimates, while field monitoring and registration data put the total at nearly 198,000 by the end of September 2026, amid continuing clashes and new waves of displacement during the first days of October.
Yemeni Human Rights Minister Mishdal Mohammed Omar said in an address to the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the escalation had displaced about 200,000 people, according to a preliminary tally covering the period through 30 September. He added that, according to ministry data, the clashes had killed more than 250 civilians and injured more than 360 others.
Government data tracks displacement figures
Data from the Executive Unit for Managing Displaced Persons’ Camps, issued on 3 October, recorded the displacement of 29,506 families comprising 197,945 people by 30 September, as fighting expanded into populated areas. The unit said the displacement had become a worsening humanitarian protection crisis, with growing numbers of families forced to leave their areas for fear of their lives and their children’s safety.
It called for simultaneous action to protect civilians and address the causes of displacement, as well as an exceptional humanitarian response to support displaced people, host communities and local institutions. Published figures vary according to the time period and areas covered by monitoring.
Displacement figures vary among monitoring bodies
On 13 September, the organisation announced that the number of registered displaced people had reached 85,818, including 82,164 who had been displaced since the beginning of the month. The wave was then concentrated in Taiz, where 9,280 families comprising nearly 56,000 people were displaced from districts including Jabal Habashi, Al Ma’afer, Maqbanah, Mawza and Al Wazi’iyah.
In that update, Lahij recorded the displacement of 3,225 families comprising more than 19,000 people, most of them from Al Mudharabah district, while the number displaced from Al Hudaydah reached about 8,000 people from 1,374 families, most of them from Hays district. Aden received more than 2,500 displaced people from 424 families.
Warnings of displacement spreading within and beyond Yemen
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that expanding fighting across multiple fronts could trigger further waves of displacement within Yemen and flows across the Bab el-Mandeb towards Djibouti, Somalia and other countries. The agency estimated that more than 130,000 people had fled their homes since the beginning of September during an earlier phase of the escalation.
Displacement also extended beyond Yemen. The International Organization for Migration said in mid-September that more than 2,000 people had reached Djibouti’s northern coast near Obock, most of them women and children. The human rights minister later said that about 3,000 people had reached Djibouti as the fighting continued.
According to the account presented by the minister before the Human Rights Council, the ministry documented 50 people killed or injured in shelling that targeted convoys of displaced people leaving Hays for Al Khawkha. The minister also attributed an attack on the village of Al Tarirah in Taiz on 17 September to the Houthi group, saying it killed three children, including a girl aged no more than one and a half years.
Escalation puts pressure on health and education
The minister said the escalation had affected health services in Taiz, Al Hudaydah, Marib and the western coast, disrupting services at 26 health facilities supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund. He added that fighting since 3 September had led to the closure or suspension of classes at 243 schools and affected more than 140,000 students, while classes had stopped at 29 schools in Jabal Habashi district.
The International Organization for Migration called for humanitarian aid to reach people safely and without obstruction, and for the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, supplies, vehicles and facilities used to deliver assistance. It said it would continue monitoring displacement and updating its data as conditions on the ground changed.
