Yemen airstrike death toll rises to 44, including 21 children, after reported Saudi strikes near Sanaa amid renewed fighting with the Houthis.

Yemen’s Houthi-run Ministry of Health, through its spokesperson, Dr Anis al-Asbahi, reported on Monday, 9 November 2026, that the death toll from airstrikes it attributed to Saudi Arabia in Al-Shariyah village, Bani Hushaysh district, east of Sanaa, had risen to 44, with 40 others injured.

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The latest figures include 21 children and 10 women among those killed, according to the ministry, which said rescue teams were still searching for missing people beneath the rubble of damaged buildings.

The reported attack took place on Saturday, 7 November, when airstrikes hit residential buildings in the area.

The updated toll represents a significant increase from the initial casualty figures released after the incident.

The Houthis’ Saba news agency and Al-Masirah television channel reported the revised figures, while the Saudi government had yet to publicly confirm responsibility for the strikes.

Reuters reported on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s Centre for International Communication had said it was investigating the reports.

The international news agency also noted that it could not independently verify the initial casualty figures.

The scale of the reported casualties has raised fresh concerns about the safety of civilians as hostilities intensify across the country.

Abdul-Aziz al-Dailami, director of Sehatuna Hospital in Sanaa, described the difficulties faced by rescue workers and medical personnel responding to the attack.

“The strikes keep coming. Just as rescuers arrive, another strike hits. We have even lost some of our own medical responders, who have been martyred,” he told Reuters.

Al-Dailami said the hospital had received several critically injured patients with injuries to their heads, chests and legs, while some victims remained trapped beneath the rubble.

The latest developments come amid an increasingly dangerous confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls Sanaa and significant parts of northern Yemen.

The relative calm established by a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 has given way to renewed fighting since mid-2026, with both sides exchanging attacks.

The Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks against Saudi airports, energy infrastructure and military installations, while Saudi Arabia has conducted airstrikes against Houthi positions in support of its Yemeni allies.

The renewed confrontation is also unfolding against the backdrop of wider regional tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, adding another dimension to Yemen’s already complex conflict.

Tensions escalated further over the weekend after the Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack targeting Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Saudi authorities said their air defences intercepted missiles directed towards the capital, while debris from an attempted attack damaged windows across several floors of an Aramco office building in Riyadh’s financial district.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said the damage was limited and no casualties were recorded. The incident prompted renewed security concerns as the confrontation extended beyond the immediate conflict zone.

The consequences of the renewed fighting are becoming increasingly severe for civilians across Yemen.

According to the United Nations Population Fund’s October situation report, more than 300,000 people have been displaced since August 2026, with women and children accounting for more than half of those forced from their homes.

The United Nations has also warned that escalating violence is placing additional pressure on an already overstretched healthcare system, restricting access to essential services and making humanitarian operations increasingly difficult.

The World Health Organisation reported 838 deaths and 2,998 injuries between 6 August and 18 September, reflecting the scale of the casualties recorded during the latest escalation.

Yemen has endured more than a decade of conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.

Although diplomatic efforts and the 2022 truce helped reduce large-scale fighting, the country’s political divisions and security challenges remained unresolved.

With renewed attacks, rising civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of people displaced, the latest escalation has further complicated efforts to restore stability.

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The reported death toll of 44 in Bani Hushaysh adds to the mounting humanitarian cost of a conflict that continues to leave ordinary Yemenis bearing much of its devastating impact.