Gas Prices Double in Mocha as Families Find Escape Beyond Reach

A ride out of Mocha can cost more than a family can find even for food. Hassan, a 40-year-old fisherman supporting nine people, told Al Jazeera that transport to nearby Taiz costs up to 200,000 Yemeni rials ($128). He cannot afford to leave. For civilians remaining in the Houthi-held Red Sea port district, the struggle is increasingly about paying for survival while fighting closes off their options.

Houthi forces entered Mocha on September 10, taking it from forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government. Thousands of civilians remain in the district, according to Al Jazeera, although their exact number is unknown. Some stayed to protect their homes; others lacked the money to flee. Nabil, a daily wage labourer in his 40s living in Yakhtul, north of Mocha, said displacement would mean homelessness, while leaving his house would expose it to looting.

Essentials rise beyond reach

Nabil said a cooking gas cylinder now costs about 20,000 rials ($13), more than twice its previous price. A 50kg sack of flour has become 8,000 rials ($5) more expensive. Power cuts have also become frequent, and the Houthis have imposed a nighttime curfew. His earnings from a day’s labour barely stretch to petrol and lunch, he said, while children have stopped attending school.

The squeeze is also breaking the informal support that households depend on. Umm Khaled, a woman in her 60s caring for a bedridden husband, said her local grocer would no longer sell to her on credit. Her son had left fishing to join the government-aligned National Resistance Forces for a monthly salary of 1,000 Saudi riyals ($267). He withdrew with those forces, leaving his wife and two children in her care. The household now relies on flour supplied by an aid group before the takeover and food brought by others.

Mocha’s location gives the crisis a wider economic setting. Its port is about 75km north of Bab al-Mandeb, a narrow passage vital to Red Sea shipping that the Houthis have repeatedly targeted since late 2023. Government-aligned forces recaptured Mocha in 2017, after which it became a refuge for people escaping Houthi-controlled areas. Fighting along the coast in early September sent families towards Aden, Taiz and Lahij, including people who had already fled Houthi rule once.

Routes out, care and aid under pressure

On September 10, the government designated Mocha and its surroundings a “kill box”, meaning an area where Houthi movements could draw military strikes. Attacks began the next day. Pharmacist Fuad said an old road was opened for departures, but some residents were stopped by the Houthis while others feared displacement. Government-appointed district director Sultan Mahmoud said no exit route was entirely safe. A government military spokesman said strikes were intended for Houthi fighters, not civilians.

Healthcare has nearly stopped functioning. According to Al Jazeera’s account, Doctors Without Borders said nearly every health facility except Mocha General Hospital had ceased operating when Houthi forces entered, largely because staff fled. About 30 health workers stayed, the organisation told The National. Fuad also alleged that hospitals had been placed under a security cordon and some equipment transferred to Sanaa.

“It is certain that there are families who could not flee because of poverty,” said Najib al-Saadi, head of the government’s executive unit for displacement camps.

Al-Saadi said his unit could not reach those needing assistance and accused the Houthis of obstructing humanitarian work. The International Committee of the Red Cross declined to comment. For households still inside Mocha, the issues to watch are whether aid reaches them, medical services recover and safer routes become available—not simply whether they want to leave, but whether they can afford to.