Yemeni Minister of Local Administration Abdulraqeeb Fatah strongly condemned on Sunday the Houthi militias for seizing relief aid and medicine shipment to patients suffering from renal failure in the Ibb governorate. The minister, who is head of the Supreme Relief Committee, also accused the Iran-backed group of obstructing humanitarian access to needy people in a number of regions. In a statement to the Yemeni news agency, Saba, Fatah said that the Houthis had intervened in relief and humanitarian efforts in Sanaa and the provinces under their control. He said that the militias forged the names of those entitled to relief and deceived international organizations in order to seize the aid, use it for the war effort and sell it on the black market. The coupists also struck deals with Houthi-affiliated relief organizations that have no experience in relief and humanitarian work. Fatah deemed the militia practices criminal acts that violate international laws, calling on UN agencies to speak out against these actions and expose them to the public. He called on UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Lise Grande to intervene to put a halt to the violations and exert pressure on the Houthis through all possible means to end the suffering of the Yemeni people. Fatah stressed that it is important for international organizations to decentralize relief work because it guarantees the delivery of relief and humanitarian assistance to the people who need it in all governorates. He also called for finding alternative mechanisms in the receipt and distribution of aid to ensure that it goes to those who deserve it. Yemens Information Minister Moammer al-Iryani also denounced the Houthi militias for looting humanitarian and relief aid. “The Yemeni government has obtained confirmed information from the capital Sanaa and areas controlled by the Houthi militias that confirms their systematic and extensive looting of humanitarian aid provided to Yemen by the United Nations relief agencies and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center,” he told Saba.