A reported 38 children in Yemen were killed or wounded over the last week of the UN-mediated truce, the highest number of underage casualties recorded in seven days since the start of 2020, Save the Children denounced on Tuesday.

"The increase in armed violence during the last month of truce in Yemen has caused 232 civilian victims, including 57 children. The last week of July was the bloodiest of the past few years with more than 65 civilian deaths or injuries, including 38 children", the organization said in a statement.

Save the Children noted that "the truce, which expires today, has represented since the beginning, in the month of April, a particularly positive change for children in Yemen, with a 53% drop in the civilians that were hit compared to the four months before it came into force. Over the same period, children who were wounded or killed dropped by 30%, down to 120". However, with its end approaching, "the number of hit civilians reported in July increased by 52%. The children of Yemen deserve determined and serious efforts to guarantee the complete cessation of violence, the reopening of the roads to Taiz and the possibility of full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for all Yemenis across the country", the organization stressed.