ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— Over 7,000 refugees from Mosul city have arrived in Erbil in the past week ahead of an anticipated offensive to drive out ISIS militants from the area, which is most likely to trigger a severe humanitarian crisis, according to UN officials in New York. Kurdish Peshmerga officials say nearly half of the refugees are children, many of them are in poor health and undernourished after their long journey. Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said military operations to retake areas held by the Islamic State group had already forced hundreds of thousands from their homes, according to the Associated Press. "The impact of the Mosul military campaign on civilians will be devastating," Grande said in statement from Iraq. "Mass casualties among civilians are likely and families trying to flee are expected to be at extreme." The United Nations is seeking $284 million ahead of the expected operation, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said. US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Thursday that $2 billion had been collected during a conference to support Iraq against ISIS, of which portions were planned to help refugees. Families fleeing Mosul have so far taken refuge in three neighboring areas: Kurdistan Region in the north, Salahaddin province in the south, and areas east of Mosul where anti-ISIS forces have been based. Kurdish military officials expect another wave of refugees from Qayara township, which they predict could be around 8,000 people. “They arrive almost every day, but the number has increased these past days,” said Peshmerga Colonel Salim Gardi about the desperate refugees. Gardi said the influx had grown after Iraqi forces retook areas near Mosul, which prompted ISIS shelling of civilians in nearby villages. “God would not allow this to happen,” said a mother of an infant about the treatment her family endured in their village near Mosul at the hands of the militants. “We have been indoors for the past six months. They didn’t even allow us to take my child out,” she said.
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