Saudi-led coalition forces have killed at least 4 civilians and injured 16 others in artillery shelling on al-Hali district of Hodeidah province of Yemen.

Despite the ceasefire that the Saudi-led coalition declared on April 9 in order to support efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic in Yemen, at least four civilians were killed and 16 others wounded in artillery shelling by the American Saudi-led coalition forces on al-Hali district of Hodeidah province on Sunday, local sources said.

The shelling targeted al-Zohor neighborhood in the district, added the sources.

Various human rights organizations have accused Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, of human rights violations and some have gone as far as accusing the coalition of war crimes. The majority of these accusations stem from airstrikes undertaken by the coalition, but others, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, have also criticized the coalition's approach to blockades. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food said that the deliberate starvation of civilians in both international and internal armed conflict may constitute a war crime, and could also constitute a crime against humanity in the event of deliberate denial of food and also the deprivation of food sources or supplies.

A 2019 United Nations report said the US, UK and France may be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons and providing other support to the Saudi-led coalition which is using the deliberate starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.

The Saudi-led coalition’s bombing campaign has so far killed or injured an estimated 17,729 civilians as of March 2019 according to the Yemen Data Project. (ILKHA)