Humanitarian director warns of looming crisis in west Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Oxfam International Director for Iraq Andres Gonzalez visited Rudaw's office in Erbil to discuss the next phase of the Mosul operations and warned of the looming humanitarian crisis which could affect 750,000 civilians as military operations target the western part of the city .

“Oxfam is calling on all armed forces to avoid the use of heavy weapons in populated and built up areas, including mortars and artillery, and to provide genuinely safe escape routes to avoid the high number of civilian casualties seen so far,” Gonzalez said this week.

Oxfam is an international aid organization working in refugee and internally-displaced persons’ camps across Iraq.

The organization, which has supported displaced people in Iraq since 2014, is planning to support trauma centers and assist with the expected influx of up to 250,000 Moslawis with blankets, heaters, hygiene kits and other supplies, as the next phase to rid the country’s second-largest of city ramps up.

More than 190,000 people have fled fighting since operations to liberate Mosul and Nineveh province began in October 2016.