Hospitals near Yemen's front lines are buckling under a surge of war wounded, the Red Cross has said, as fighting escalates around the besieged city of Taiz. Medics report treating up to 700 war wounded in a single week, while hospitals face acute shortages of medicine, oxygen, surgical gloves, anaesthetic and fuel.

Reuters reported from Taiz on Thursday that a 25-year-old pregnant mother of two was left immobilised after a bullet lodged near her spine while she was trapped inside her home without food or water for two days. Doctors at Al-Thawra hospital said they could not carry out a scan because she was more than four months pregnant.

Taiz cut off since early October

Taiz governorate hosts about half of the 281,000 people newly displaced in Yemen since the start of August, according to the report, and has been largely isolated since 3 October, with fighting preventing humanitarian supplies from entering and civilians from leaving. Taiz, Marib and the Red Sea coast are seeing some of the highest casualties, with patients arriving with gunshot wounds and complex blast injuries.

Clashes resume on Taiz fronts

Fighting has resumed on several fronts south of Taiz, Yemen Today TV reported on Thursday, naming the Al-Aqroudh and Al-Masrakh fronts and Al-Rahn village in the Sabir al-Mawadim district. Aden International Airport has meanwhile resumed flights after missile attacks earlier in the week, with the Yemeni army saying two ballistic missiles struck the airport, injuring civilians and causing material damage.

"The healthcare system across Yemen is at a breaking point," Red Cross spokesperson Hachem Osseiran said. Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and several other provinces in September 2014, with a Saudi-led coalition intervening in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.