On Thursday, witnesses and Houthi media reported that at least 78 people died in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as hundreds gathered in a classroom to receive aid.

The director of health in Sanaa was quoted by the Houthi movement-affiliated Al Masirah TV television news station as saying that several individuals were hurt, including 13 who were in severe condition.

The stampede occurred during merchants' distribution of charitable offerings in the closing days of the Muslim month of Ramadan, according to a statement from the Houthi-run Ministry of Interior.

According to two witnesses involved in the rescue operation, hundreds of people crammed into a school to receive the donations, which totaled 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per individual.

Houthi television shared a video of a throng of people jammed together, some of whom were screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety. Security personnel tried to push people back and keep the mob under control.

A crutch, clothing, and a number of shoes were left behind after the stampede, and forensic investigators could be seen going through people's things while wearing protective white suits.

The interior ministry announced that the two business owners in charge of planning the donation event had been detained and that an investigation was ongoing.

Tens of thousands of people have died during Yemen's eight-year civil conflict, which has also destroyed the country's economy and caused millions of others to go hungry.

After the Houthis deposed the government from Sanaa, the country's capital, in 2014, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in 2015. The conflict has frequently been referred to as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The stampede, according to Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the supreme revolutionary committee leader of the Houthis, was brought on by the Yemeni people experiencing "the worst global humanitarian crisis" following eight years of conflict.