Houthi authorities said on Tuesday that they received 100 ambulances from the World Health Organization (WHO), days after the World Food Programme (WFP) issued an ultimatum to limit aid work in Houthi-controlled areas at a gathering of UN leaders in Brussels. 

WHO supplied 100 ambulances to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, which will distribute the vehicles to hospitals in Houthi-controlled governorates, Muna Yaseen, WHO’s spokesperson at the regional office in the Middle East, told Almasdar Online. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Yemen’s internationally recognized government in Aden expects to receive 94 ambulances from WHO in the next few days, an official in the ministry said.

Additional support from WHO comes after international donors and the UN threatened to restrict the flow of aid in Houthi-governed areas following continued theft, obstruction and diversion of humanitarian aid. The provision of vehicles highlights the dilemma humanitarian agencies face in meeting the demands of the crisis while trying to punish actors who abuse the aid. 

Last March, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gave the rebels 20 four-wheel drive Toyotal Hilux trucks for minesweeping operations in the Hodeidah port, despite the Houthis' widespread use of landmines violating international the laws of war.