Amman (AFP)
Twenty-four sick Yemenis, evacuated from the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa, arrived in Amman on Saturday for treatment in Jordanian hospitals, according to an AFP photographer.
The aircraft landed at Queen Alia International Airport, 30 kilometers south of Amman, on Saturday evening.
A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP that the plane was carrying men, women and children in need of medical care, as well as their companions.
It is the second such operation since 2016, according to the WHO. The plane was to leave Sanaa on Friday but the flight was postponed for technical reasons.
The WHO "is working very hard to ensure that these Yemeni patients receive the care they need," the organization said in a statement.
On Monday, the first plane had evacuated seven sick children from Sana'a for medical treatment in Jordan.
Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said the flight was the first of "a number of medical airlift flights".
The evacuations are intended to contribute to the detente between the belligerents, the Houthi rebels supported by Iran, and the Yemeni government, supported by the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
In November, the coalition - which controls Yemeni airspace - announced that patients needing medical care abroad would be allowed to leave the capital via Sana'a airport, which has been closed to commercial flights since 2016.
The opening of an airlift is a rare "sign of hope", assured Lise Grande on Monday.
This could be the prelude to the reopening of Sanaa airport that the rebels keep asking for. The coalition has so far refused, saying it fears arms will go to the insurgents.
According to various humanitarian organizations, the war in Yemen has claimed tens of thousands of lives, mostly civilians.
About 3.3 million people are still displaced and 24.1 million, more than two-thirds of the population, are in need of assistance, according to the UN.
© 2020 AFP