ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The UN is “profoundly worried” about reports from the ISIS-held town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, where people are in “terrible trouble” and suffering from shortages of food, medicines and other basic necessities, a top humanitarian official in Iraq said.
“We don’t have access to the city, but we have to assume based on what we are hearing that people are in terrible trouble,” Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said in a UN news report.
Fallujah, which is now home to some 50,000 people, was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS in early 2014. It has been surrounded and besieged by the Iraqi Army ever since, and conditions are worsening as supplies inside dry up.
Aid organizations have warned that Fallujah is a humanitarian crisis in the making.
“We are profoundly worried about Fallujah. There are reports of widespread food shortages and lack of medicines,” Grande said in the UN report published Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of people remain stranded by fighting in Fallujah, suffering from a lack of basic necessities and unable to leave, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission of Iraq (UNAMI).
There are “credible reports from key informants” that people wanting to leave the city and seek safety are unable to do so, according to Grande.
She described Fallujah as "a conflict zone," saying she has received reports that ISIS has committed war crimes by killing people trying to flee the city to save their lives. Reports indicate that the few medicines remaining in the city go to wounded ISIS fighters.
“With so much at stake, all parties to the conflict have to do everything possible to protect civilians and respect their right to receive life-saving humanitarian support," Grande said.
Earlier this year, an Iraqi official had told Rudaw that children are dying of starvation.
“So far, four children have died of starvation and the situation in Fallujah is only getting worse,” Saadun Obeid, Fallujah’s mayor, told Rudaw.
“No food or medicines are left in Fallujah. We have asked Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send us humanitarian assistance but nothing has reached us,” Obeid claimed.UNAMI said that humanitarian partners continue to engage with civil and military authorities to find the best way to reach civilians in areas under siege.
“We are ready to respond to help people in need. We are scaling up, pre-positioning stocks and expanding our assistance in the sites where displaced people may go,” Grande said.
The UN says an estimated 10 million people across Iraq are in need of humanitarian assistance, "including 3.4 million people who have been displaced since January 2014.
An estimated 3 million people are living under ISIS control, while more than 540,000 have returned to their homes," according to UNAMI.
“We don’t have access to the city, but we have to assume based on what we are hearing that people are in terrible trouble,” Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said in a UN news report.
Fallujah, which is now home to some 50,000 people, was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS in early 2014. It has been surrounded and besieged by the Iraqi Army ever since, and conditions are worsening as supplies inside dry up.
Aid organizations have warned that Fallujah is a humanitarian crisis in the making.
“We are profoundly worried about Fallujah. There are reports of widespread food shortages and lack of medicines,” Grande said in the UN report published Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of people remain stranded by fighting in Fallujah, suffering from a lack of basic necessities and unable to leave, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission of Iraq (UNAMI).
There are “credible reports from key informants” that people wanting to leave the city and seek safety are unable to do so, according to Grande.
She described Fallujah as "a conflict zone," saying she has received reports that ISIS has committed war crimes by killing people trying to flee the city to save their lives. Reports indicate that the few medicines remaining in the city go to wounded ISIS fighters.
“With so much at stake, all parties to the conflict have to do everything possible to protect civilians and respect their right to receive life-saving humanitarian support," Grande said.
Earlier this year, an Iraqi official had told Rudaw that children are dying of starvation.
“So far, four children have died of starvation and the situation in Fallujah is only getting worse,” Saadun Obeid, Fallujah’s mayor, told Rudaw.
“No food or medicines are left in Fallujah. We have asked Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send us humanitarian assistance but nothing has reached us,” Obeid claimed.UNAMI said that humanitarian partners continue to engage with civil and military authorities to find the best way to reach civilians in areas under siege.
“We are ready to respond to help people in need. We are scaling up, pre-positioning stocks and expanding our assistance in the sites where displaced people may go,” Grande said.
The UN says an estimated 10 million people across Iraq are in need of humanitarian assistance, "including 3.4 million people who have been displaced since January 2014.
An estimated 3 million people are living under ISIS control, while more than 540,000 have returned to their homes," according to UNAMI.
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