The death toll from airstrikes on a village east of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, has risen to 44, including 21 children and 10 women, Houthi health officials said on Monday. Forty other people were injured in the strikes on residential buildings in Al-Shariyah village, in the Bani Hushaysh district, and rescue teams were still searching for people believed to be missing under the rubble.

The strikes took place on Saturday, 7 November. The updated toll was reported on Monday by the Houthi-run Ministry of Health through its spokesman, Dr Anis al-Asbahi, and carried by the Houthis' Saba news agency and Al-Masirah television. It is a significant increase on the initial casualty figures released after the attack, and the figures have not been independently verified.

Investigation and unanswered questions

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, and that the agency could not independently verify the initial casualty figures.

Abdul-Aziz al-Dailami, director of Sehatuna Hospital in Sanaa, described the difficulties facing rescue workers. "The strikes keep coming. Just as rescuers arrive, another strike hits. We have even lost some of our own medical responders," he told Reuters. 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 attack came amid renewed fighting in Yemen, where a United Nations-brokered truce agreed in 2022 has given way to fresh hostilities since fighting resumed in July. The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and over 300,000 displaced since then, and the World Health Organization reported 838 deaths and 2,998 injuries between 6 August and 18 September. The Houthis, who control Sanaa, have also launched missile and drone attacks against Saudi airports, energy infrastructure and military sites, including an attack on Riyadh over the weekend.