Abdullah al-Osaimi worries every day about how to put food on the table for his wife and four children. The family fled several months ago from their home in Yemen’s Noqm neighbourhood, east of the capital Sanaa, amid ongoing air strikes by the Saudi-led Arab coalition battling the country. They eventually resettled in a school housing internally displaced persons in the heart of Sanaa.

“The problem of being homeless has been solved, but we are unable to find a solution for the most critical problem we face: accessing food and clean water,” Osaimi, a 45-year-old unemployed salesperson, told Al Jazeera. When his family fled Noqm, they left behind their home, his small shop, and almost everything inside. Osaimi has since eked out a living by selling bottles of water to pedestrians in Sanaa, quickly burning through his small savings of around 10,000 Yemeni rials ($50).

“I have become unable to provide food to my family – even the basic needs, such as plain bread and water,” Osaimi said. Since March, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been conducting air strikes in Yemen in an effort to curb the expansion of the country’s Houthi rebels, who have been fighting government forces for control of the country. Thousands of people have died in the conflict, which has sparked a massive humanitarian crisis. More than 1.5 million people have been displaced, and many more are struggling to access the basic necessities, including food, water and fuel.