Three weeks into Yemen's Taiz siege: prices doubled, a family sheltering in a school eats only rice or beans

In Yemen's besieged city of Taiz, families have run out of choices at mealtime three weeks into the siege. Yousef Farhan, a 39-year-old father of four who lives in the city, told Al Jazeera: 'The whole day, we either eat rice or beans, whether in the morning or in the evening.'

Shelling forced Farhan's family from their home years ago, and they have lived in a school in the southwestern Yemeni city ever since. Farhan used to sell cucumbers from a small cart in front of the school, earning between 4,000 and 5,000 Yemeni riyals (roughly $2.50 to $3.20) a day.

That unsteady income bought a gas cylinder each month and, now and then, a meal with some variety. Then the siege closed the school, and his trade went with it; the family now cooks over firewood.

Farhan said: 'With the suspension of the school due to the shelling and the siege, my source of income stopped, and I was unable to find alternative work since the siege caused many people's jobs to come to a halt.' His children, aged five months to five years, depend on whatever he can find, as do his sister and her child, who joined him after their neighbourhood came under fire.

Taiz is Yemen's third-largest city, home to about 1 million of the country's roughly 43 million people.

The city has been cut off since early October, when it lost both of its land routes. The Houthis took the town of al-Turbah by October 4, severing the Taiz-Al-Turbah-Aden Road, the main artery for goods.

A day earlier, on October 3, forces loyal to the internationally recognised government closed the eastern al-Houban crossing into Houthi-held territory, citing attempted Houthi incursions.

On October 20, the United Nations warned that road closures and lack of security were blocking vital supplies. By then, prices of the food and fuel still available had more than doubled, and Taiz's water production had dropped by half.

For weeks, 40-year-old Sayyun Burhan has looked no further ahead than tomorrow. 'We barely live day-to-day, waiting to see how the next day will pass,' she said. Work is no longer available at the local store where her husband was employed, and his failing health makes it harder for him to find anything else, while the family still needs money for rent, food, water and cooking gas.

Across the city, the cost of water delivered by tankers has roughly tripled since the fighting escalated, according to UN officials. Burhan said the siege means missed lessons and long days inside for her children, as she is afraid to let them out: 'They have been deprived of schooling and play.'

The city's fuel stations have been closed since October 5. Prices gathered by Al Jazeera in Taiz show a 20-litre container of petrol now costs 120,000 riyals ($77), four times last year's price of 30,000 riyals ($19). The price of 20 litres of diesel has nearly doubled, from 46,000 riyals ($29) to 90,000 riyals ($58), and a cooking gas cylinder has risen from 11,400 riyals ($7) to 40,000 riyals ($26). Bus fares have risen from 200 riyals (13 cents) to 500 riyals (32 cents), an increase of 150 percent.

Diesel shortages have disrupted the water pumps, worsening water shortages. Local authorities say access restrictions are also stopping tankers from the Al-Dhabab basin, an important source of drinking water, from entering the city.

Fatima Khaled, 55, has kidney failure. She cannot afford repeated trips from her village west of the city to the hospital for treatment, or a room closer to the hospital, and sleeps on the floor of the dialysis hall at Al-Jumhuri General Hospital. 'I feel like I am imprisoned here. We have no housing or shelter here. This hall is our shelter,' she said.

On October 22, the World Health Organization warned that 42 health facilities in Taiz were reporting severe shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicine and medical supplies.