File Photo: A malnourished Yemeni child receives treatment at a hospital in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah on Dec. 3, 2017. (Xinhua/AFP)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The head of the UN children's agency, UNICEF, on Tuesday called for an end to intense fighting near the main hospital in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen, that threatened the lives of 59 children, including 25 in intensive care.

"UNICEF calls on all parties to cease hostilities near and around the hospital, and to ensure that civilians can safely access the hospital from all sides, and to abide by their legal obligations to stop attacks against civilian infrastructure - including the port of Hodeidah," Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF said in a statement issued at the agency's headquarters here.

She said the forces battling near Al Thawra Modern General Hospital are "dangerously close... putting the lives of 59 children, including 25 in the intensive care unit, at imminent risk of death."

"Medical staff and patients in the hospital have confirmed hearing heavy bombing and gunfire," the executive director said. "Access to and from the hospital, the only functioning one in the area, is now imperiled,"

She said the embattled port city and environs "account for 40 percent of the 400,000 children in the country who suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Some of the sickest are taken to the hospital for urgent care."

"UNICEF's teams on the ground are delivering assistance including lifesaving supplies like medicines, clean water and therapeutic food to treat acutely malnourished children," the UNICEF chief said. "Further escalation in the fighting will jeopardize these efforts."

Fore also said she has received reports that fighting has "intensified around Hodeidah's port through which up to 80 percent of Yemen's humanitarian supplies, fuel and commercial goods are delivered. The toll in lives could be catastrophic if the port is damaged, destroyed or blocked."