Jean Alam, spokesperson for the UN’s resident coordinator in Yemen, said staff were detained inside the compound in the city’s Hada district on Sunday.
Those held include at least five Yemeni employees and 15 international personnel. A further 11 UN staff were briefly questioned and later released.
Alam added the UN is in direct contact with the Houthis and other relevant actors “to resolve this serious situation as swiftly as possible, end the detention of all personnel, and restore full control over its facilities in Sanaa”.
A separate UN official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, stated that Houthi forces confiscated all communication equipment inside the facility, including computers, phones and servers.
The staff reportedly belong to several UN agencies, among them the World Food Programme (WFP), the children’s agency UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The incident follows a sustained crackdown by the Houthis on the UN and other international aid organisations operating in territory under their control, including Sanaa, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, and Saada province in the north.
According to UN figures, more than 50 staff members have now been detained.
The Houthis have repeatedly accused detained UN staff and employees of foreign NGOs and embassies of espionage on behalf of the United States and Israel, allegations that the UN has denied.
In reaction to previous detentions, the UN suspended operations in Saada earlier this year and relocated its top humanitarian coordinator in Yemen from Sanaa to Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised government.
In a statement on Saturday, UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric warned: “We will continue to call for an end to the arbitrary detention of 53 of our colleagues.”
Dujarric was responding to a televised address by Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi, who claimed his group had dismantled “one of the most dangerous spy cells”, alleging it was “linked to humanitarian organisations such as the World Food Programme and UNICEF”. Dujarric said the accusations were “dangerous and unacceptable”.
Saturday’s raid comes amid a sharp escalation in detentions. Since August 31, 2025, alone, at least 21 UN personnel have been arrested, alongside 23 current and former employees of international NGOs, the UN said.
Ten years of conflict have left Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, facing what the UN describes as one of the gravest humanitarian crises globally, with millions reliant on aid for survival.
