( CNN ) The Red Cross on Saturday called for an immediate 24-hour ceasefire in battle-torn Yemen , saying many more people recently wounded in airstrikes and ground fighting will die if not tended to soon . The call came just before the U.N. Security Council met late Saturday morning to discuss the situation in the Arabian Peninsula nation , where Shiite rebels are pitted against external Arab air forces and fighters loyal to Yemen 's displaced Sunni president . A pause was needed especially in and near the southern Yemeni port city of Aden , where intense fighting has happened in the past two weeks , the International Committee of the Red Cross said . Food , water , medical items and personnel need to get into these areas , the group said . `` Otherwise , put starkly , many more people will die . For the wounded , their chances of survival depend on action within hours , not days , '' Robert Mardini , the ICRC 's head of operations in the Near and Middle East , said . Another Red Cross official said people are running out of food , water and fuel . `` Medical supplies need to be here yesterday . The situation is difficult , '' said Marie-Claire Feghali , a spokeswoman for the ICRC who is in the capital , Sanaa . `` We need to save the lives that can be saved . '' Meanwhile , residents of Sanaa , witnessed the fiercest Saudi strikes since the air assault started last week . Military facilities , including two bases , within the city limits have been targeted , three senior security officials in Sanaa said . At the Security Council , Russia submitted a draft resolution calling for a halt to the airstrikes that a nine-country regional coalition , led by Saudi Arabia , has been conducting against the rebels in Yemen for more than a week . The meeting adjourned with no decision announced . One diplomat said the draft was missing what the envoy called key elements . It does n't call for the Houthis to stop fighting , and it does not call for political talks between the belligerents , the diplomat told CNN on condition of anonymity . Yemen has been descending into chaos in the weeks since Houthi rebels -- minority Shiites who have long complained of being marginalized in the majority Sunni country -- forced Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi from power in January . The Houthis put Hadi under house arrest when they overtook Sanaa in January . But Hadi escaped in February , fled to Aden and declared himself to still be president . Houthis and their allies , including those loyal to Hadi 's predecessor , then fought Hadi 's forces in the Aden area . Hadi fled Aden in late March , ultimately for Saudi Arabia , when the rebels and their military allies advanced on the city . The conflict prompted Saudi Arabia , a predominately Sunni nation and Yemen 's northern neighbor , and other Arab nations to hit the rebels in Yemen with airstrikes . A Saudi source told CNN that special forces supplied weapons and communication equipment to Yemeni fighters in Aden loyal to Hadi . The Houthis were retreating from areas in the center of the city , including the presidential palace there , the source said . Saudi special forces help oppose Houthi rebels in Yemen , source says . The United Nations said Thursday that at least 519 people have been killed in Yemen in the past two weeks . An additional 1,700 have been wounded . Tens of thousands have fled to nearby Somalia and Djibouti . In Aden alone , fighting has killed 58 people and injured 200 more in the past two days , Yemeni security officials said . At least 24 of the dead were Houthis . Complicating matters in Yemen is that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- not the Houthis or Hadi-loyal forces -- holds sway in the country 's east . AQAP is considered one of the most ruthless branches of the terrorist organization . Also late this week , photos circulating on social media purported to show senior al Qaeda leader Khaled Batarfi -- whom Yemeni defense officials said militants busted out of jail on Thursday -- posing in a presidential residence in southern Yemen . Sunni Islamist fighters freed Batarfi with some 270 prisoners when they overran the town of al Mukallah . On Saturday , the French military evacuated 44 people , including some French nationals , from the eastern Yemeni port city of Balhaf . CNN 's Don Melvin , Trey Haney , David Shortell and Richard Roth contributed to this report .
social media focuses on the capital punishment as jets hit military bases in Sanaa . The U.N. Security Council meets to discuss the issue . Social media : A senior al Qaeda commander stands in a presidential residence after a jail break .