A patient suffers from the cholera epidemic and receives medical treatment at a health center in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 15, 2019. So far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported in Yemen, almost three times the same period last year, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said on Monday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

The humanitarian situation in Yemen is dire and the end is nigh for the Yemenis without more international support, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock told the Security Council on Monday.

"The relief operation is running out of money. Barring changes, the end is nigh," Lowcock briefed the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen via video-link from London, picking up the passionate plea of UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths for the international community to act now, to save countless Yemeni lives.

Lowcock reiterated his earlier call for a nationwide ceasefire, adding that "all the men with guns and bombs need to stop the violence. We again remind the parties that international humanitarian law binds them in all locations and at all times."

But "bullets are not the only risk to life and limb," he warned, citing that so far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported, almost three times the same period last year.

"We see the consequences of the destruction of the health system elsewhere too. More than 3,300 cases of diphtheria have been reported since 2018 - the first outbreak in Yemen since 1982. Earlier this year, new measles cases surged to nearly twice the levels reported at the same time in 2018."

"Looming over everything, the risk of famine continues," he warned, saying that the World Food Programme was upping the reach of support for the world's largest aid operation.

Access to the vulnerable remains a key challenge, he said, making clear that grain that could feed 3.7 million hungry Yemenis in Hodeidah's Red Sea Mills, remained trapped due to conflict. Money was running out to save lives, he said, with only 267 million U.S. dollars received so far, out of 2.6 billion pledged.

The World Health Organization, he said, "projects that 60 percent of diarrhea treatment centers could close in the coming weeks, and services at 50 percent of secondary care facilities, could be disrupted."

"We remain keenly aware that a sustainable peace would be the most effective remedy for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen," Lowcock concluded. "Without peace, we will simply go on treating the symptoms of this crisis, instead addressing the cause."