U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned Sunday that "much worse" lay in store for Yemen in 2019 unless its warring parties strike a peace deal and head off a humanitarian crisis.

A high number of Yemenis have been dying in "very dramatic circumstances" as a result of food shortages, Guterres told a news conference in Doha, Daily Star noted.

The United Nations Thursday brokered a cease-fire accord between the internationally recognized government and Iran-backed Houthi rebels to end hostilities in the flashpoint port city of Hodeida.

The deal followed a week of negotiations in Sweden as the United Nations bids to end the war in impoverished Yemen.

"The fact that famine was not yet declared does not in any way diminish our huge concern with a very high level of hunger that exists in Yemen" and "people dying in very dramatic circumstances", said Guterres.

"Without peace, we will be facing in 2019 a much worse situation than today."