Anger among the Yemeni people is mounting over the allegedly Saudi-led devastating airstrikes on the largest hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah controlled by the Shiite Houthi rebels.

The airstrikes have killed at least 55 people, including women and children, and injured 124 others, according to the latest figures released by the Houthi-run Health Ministry managing hospitals in Hodeidah.

Some of the residents who rushed to medical centers for blood donations told Xinhua that two explosions ripped through the entrance of the Thawra Hospital and a fishermen's wharf in the Houthi-controlled Hodeidah on Thursday.

The deadly airstrikes, allegedly launched by the Saudi-led coalition, prompted angry protests on Friday in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, where tens of thousands marched through the city's streets to "reject the Saudi war crimes against innocent citizens in Hodeidah."

In other Houthi-controlled northern provinces, similar protests were organized by local authorities to condemn the attack on one of the few functioning medical facilities in the city of Hodeidah, according to the pro-Houthi Al Masirah television station.

Angry tribesmen vowed to take revenge by dispatching more to fight alongside Iran-backed Houthis to repulse the advancing Yemeni government forces in Hodeidah and elsewhere in the country.

Yemeni political activists described the attack on medical facility as a catastrophic incident and an inexcusable mistake committed by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis.

However, it is also feared that the Houthi authorities could use the latest airstrikes as an opportunity to mobilize and recruit new fighters against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.

"Houthis were looking for a chance to gain the public support and they found it and masterminded an attack against the hospital in Hodeidah," an officer of Yemen's military intelligence agency told Xinhua.

The officer said it was Houthis that "fired shells toward the main entrance of the hospital and caused casualties."

"Houthis plan to harm Hodeidah residents who refused to join the fighting against the government forces and more crimes might be committed in the next days," he said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Turki Malki, official spokesman of the anti-Houthi Arab coalition, told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel that no flights or military operations were carried out in Hodeidah on Thursday.

Malki also blamed "the Houthi militia for being behind the killing of civilians in Hodeidah."

The airstrikes on Hodeidah's main hospital coincided with a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to listen to the briefing of the UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths.

The UN envoy said on Thursday that he will invite the warring parties in the war-torn Arab country to engage in new political consultations in Geneva next month.

"After having consulted with the parties, I plan to invite them to Geneva on Sept. 6 for a first round of consultations," Griffiths told the Security Council.

According to the UN envoy, the consultations will provide the opportunity for the conflicting parties to discuss the framework for negotiations, agree on relevant confidence-building measures and specific plans for moving the process forward.

In his first official statement at the UN security council, Ahmed Ben Mubarak, Yemen's newly-appointed permanent representative to the UN, reaffirmed the Yemeni government's support to the efforts of the UN special envoy to restore peace to the war-ravaged country.

The success of any future consultations will be achieved only by focusing on alleviating the humanitarian sufferings, implementing the security arrangements and moving toward the political process, he said.

On June 13, the Saudi-led Arab coalition, backing the internationally-recognized government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, declared a major assault to recapture Hodeidah and the Yemeni western Red Sea coast from the Houthis.

The Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly accused the Houthis of using the port to smuggle in Iranian weapons. Both Houthis and Iran have denied the accusation.

Hodeidah is the single most important point of entry for food and basic supplies to Yemen's northern provinces controlled by Houthis, including the capital Sanaa.

More than 121,000 residents have fled the war-torn city of Hodeidah and other parts of the province since June 1, the United Nations said this week.