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An average of eight children are killed or maimed every day in Yemen as a direct result of the conflict that has gripped the country since April, according to a new report released Wednesday by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"This conflict is a particular tragedy for Yemeni children," said UNICEF Representative in Yemen, Julien Harneis. "They are being killed by bombs or bullets, and those that survive face the growing threat of disease and malnutrition. This cannot be allowed to continue," he stressed.

The report, titled 'Yemen: Childhood Under Threat,' reveals that nearly 400 children have been killed and over 600 others injured since the violence escalated some four months ago.

Disrupted health services, increased levels of child malnutrition, closed schools and higher numbers of children recruited by fighting groups are among the effects of the conflict now ravaging the Arab world's poorest country, the study finds.

As devastating as the conflict is for the lives of children right now, it will have terrifying consequences for their future, it warns.

Across the country, nearly 10 million children - 80 per cent of the country's under-18 population - are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. More than 1.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

UNICEF has been at the center of humanitarian operations in Yemen since the beginning of the conflict, working across the country to respond to the critical needs of children by providing life-saving services, including safe water, as well as treatment against malnutrition, diarrhea, measles and pneumonia.