Sanaa, Yemen (CNN)Yemen's residents saw a much-needed break late Tuesday in the fighting gripping the country as a five-day humanitarian pause proposed by Saudi Arabia went into effect.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Friday that his country would implement the pause at 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) to allow humanitarian organizations to bring in aid.
It had been unclear whether the Houthis, the Shiite minority rebel group that ousted Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi this year, would abide by the proposed halt in fighting between their forces on the ground and a Saudi-led coalition.
But a Houthi-appointed Yemeni military spokesman, Kaleb Luqman, said the rebels agreed with the proposed pause, the country's Houthi-run news agency, SABA, reported Saturday, and the ceasefire went into effect as planned.
In March, the Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against the Houthis, who have taken over the capital, Sanaa, and many other parts of Yemen. The fighting has intensified in the buildup to the pause, with dozens of airstrikes over the weekend.
Humanitarian organizations have expressed concern over how much aid can be flooded into the country even if the five-day pause is respected.
The fighting has damaged the runway of the capital's airport, and there has been fighting in key ports into which aid could be delivered. A fuel shortage has limited the delivery of supplies within the country in recent days, according to the United Nations.