<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">More than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or maimed in Yemen's civil war since it escalated nearly eight years ago, the United Nations said Monday.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"The true toll of this conflict is likely to be far higher," said the children's agency UNICEF about the casualties of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Thousands of children have lost their lives, hundreds of thousands more remain at risk of death from preventable disease or starvation," said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">About 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, one quarter of them aged under five, and most are at extreme risk from cholera, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, UNICEF said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Yemen's war broke out in 2014 and quickly saw Iran-backed Huthi rebels seize the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Hundreds of thousands have died since, either as a result of fighting or indirectly through unsafe drinking water, disease outbreaks, hunger and other impacts.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The agency's latest numbers confirm 3,774 child deaths between March 2015 and September 2022.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">A UN-brokered truce lasted for six months until October 2, but warring parties then failed to agree on an extension.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Since then at least 62 children have been killed or wounded, said UNICEF.</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"The urgent renewal of the truce would be a positive first step that would allow critical humanitarian access," Russell said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Ultimately, only a sustained peace will allow families to rebuild their shattered lives and begin to plan for the future."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The UN agency also said 3,904 boys had been recruited into the fighting over the years, and that more than 90 girls had been given roles including working at checkpoints.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">UNICEF appealed for $484.4 million in funding to tackle the humanitarian crisis.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"If the children of Yemen are to have any chance of a decent future... all those with influence must ensure they are protected and supported," said Russell. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>