Street battles have been raging in residential areas of Yemen's main port city of Hodeidah, forcing medical staff to flee the largest hospital, as Houthi insurgents try to repel forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition.
Residents on Sunday said they saw bodies of seven civilians killed in clashes in southern suburbs, with both sides using mortar shells, anti-aircraft guns and assault rifles in the fight for the Houthi-held city, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.
The coalition has renewed its offensive on Hodeidah as Western allies, including the United States, called for a ceasefire to support UN-led efforts to end the nearly four-year war that has killed more than 10,000 and pushed the country to the brink of starvation.
Medical sources at al-Thawra hospital said that several staff members and patients able to move had fled the complex.
It was not immediately clear how many patients remained inside.
"The Houthis are reinforcing their positions near the hospital and that is what scared people," said one staff member.
Hospital spokesman Khaled Attiyah said that doctors and nurses continued their work in departments such as intensive care, the burns ward and the emergency room "despite the panic".
Last week, rights groups said the Houthis had raided the May 22 hospital in the city's eastern suburbs and posted gunmen on the roof, endangering doctors and patients.
The United Nations and aid groups have warned that a full-scale assault on Hodeidah, an entry point for 80 per cent of the country's food imports and relief supplies, could trigger a famine in the already impoverished Arabian Peninsula state.
More than two dozen senior Obama administration officials, including former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former CIA Director John Brennan, called on US President Donald Trump to cease all support for the war.
In a telephone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated Washington's call for "a cessation of hostilities and for all parties to come to the table to negotiate a peaceful solution to the conflict," the State Department said.
"We hear loud shelling and they are using all kinds of weapons, it is terrifying," said resident Abdullah Mohammed.
"In the eastern suburbs, Apache helicopters are bombing Houthi positions all day long."
