Hawzah News Agency (United Nations) -"Seven million Yemenis do not know where their next meal will come from and are ever closer to starvation,” Jamie McGoldrick said in a statement released on Tuesday.

He also estimated that more than 17 million Yemenis are not able to adequately feed themselves and thus forced to skip meals while “women and girls eat the least and last.”

The UN official further voiced concern about rising food prices, food shortages, disruptions to agricultural production, and lowering purchasing power.

 “Given that the country is 80-90 percent dependent on imported food staples; I am compelled to raise the alarm. If left unabated, these factors combined could accelerate the onset of famine,” he said.

Elsewhere in his statement, McGoldrick expressed deep worries over the escalation of conflict in the western coast of Yemen, saying the fighting is restricting the flow of life-saving commodities into Hudaydah Port.

The airstrikes conducted by Saudi fighter jets have destroyed critical roads and bridges across Hudaydah Province.

On Monday, the UN International Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that 462,000 children were suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen.

Earlier this month, the UN appealed for $2.1 billion to provide food and other life-saving aid for some 12 million Yemenis expected to need assistance this year.

Three UN agencies further said in a joint statement that the number of food insecure people in Yemen had risen by three million during the past seven months, reaching an estimated 17.1 million people.

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