Yemen's Saudi-backed army on Wednesday ordered their forces to suspend an offensive on the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah, field commanders said.

After a night of air strikes on Yemen's Hodeidah, calm descended to allow hungry families to stock up on food in the Houthi-held Red Sea port city on Tuesday.

At least 149 people including civilians have been killed in 24 hours of clashes between government loyalists and rebels in Yemen's flashpoint city of Hodeida, medics and military sources said Monday.

At least 61 combatants have been killed in clashes in Yemen's flashpoint Hodeida, medics and a military source said Sunday, and dozens of wounded taken to hospitals outside the city.

Yemeni government forces pressed further into the strategic port city of Hodeidah, seizing its main hospital in heavy fighting Saturday, as their Saudi-led coalition backers put a brave face on an end to US refuelling support.

Government troops and rebels clashed again Tuesday near a Yemeni port city crucial for humanitarian aid, where hundreds of thousands of civilians could be trapped as war closes in.

Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) have signed a $5mn funding agreement to meet the humanitarian and medical needs of more than 680,000 beneficiaries in Yemen.

Yemeni forces, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, said they advanced against Iran-allied rebels around Hodeidah on Saturday, a day after the government fighters started a major offensive to retake the vital port city.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appealed for an end to the war in Yemen and laid out steps the parties in the conflict must take to move forward, warning that continued fighting would result in the country's worst famine in a decade.

The Saudi-led coalition has launched airstrikes on an airbase near the international airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, state-run Saudi media reported early Friday.

Qatar on Thursday welcomed a call by the United States for a ceasefire in Yemen and considered it an encouraging step towards a political solution and an end to the suffering of the Yemeni people.

The surprise US call for a ceasefire in Yemen marks a growing sense that Saudi Arabia's campaign has proven disastrous, but experts say more action is needed to end the devastating war.