Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumIn ruined Yarmouk, 50 metres from normal life, 'no one knows who will die next'
Excerpt:
An activist from inside Yarmouk who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from all the warring factions told Fairfax Media via text message that rumours IS had agreed to leave the camp were premature. He says there were renewed clashes in the south of the camp between the Palestinian Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis militia and IS fighters, backed by militia from the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
Salim Salameh, head of the Palestinian League for Human Rights Syria and a former Yarmouk resident, says many inside the camp are back to consuming water with spices, "the famous meal people had during 2014 when starvation took the lives of around 200 people".
"This news is extremely scary because it means the basic food storage which people had accumulated in the 2½-year siege is already exhausted," Mr Salameh, who is now based in Sweden, told Fairfax Media.
Along with the threat of starvation, the Syrian regime forces dropped two barrel bombs on the one remaining hospital that is still operating inside Yarmouk on April 9, further eroding what's left of the healthcare infrastructure of the camp. There are just 42 medical workers - two of them doctors - left in the camp with next to no medication for pre- or post-emergency treatment, he warned.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/in-ruined-yarmouk-50-metres-from-normal-life-no-one-knows-who-will-die-next-20150414-1mkt1w.html
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azurnoir
(45,850 posts)ISIS militants besieging a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria's capital have savagely beheaded the leaders of a Hamas-linked group opposed to President Bashar Assad, it has been claimed one of them is Sheikh Abu Salah Taha which reportedly beheaded by ISIS, mail online reports.
ISIS' decision to publicly execute the men - as well as reports of the deaths of dozens more Palestinians during clashes inside Yarmouk - has prompted outrage in Gaza, where hundreds of furious Hamas supporters swore bloody revenge on the terror group during a march yesterday.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the refugees who have fled the camp have reached the southern Damascus suburbs of Yalda, Babila and Beit Sahem, which are under the control of anti-government rebels.
Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, last night said that the agency has not been able to send any food nor any convoys into the camp since the current round of fighting started.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1692393
It's not an either/or situation.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Syria: Barrel bombs and sniper attacks compound misery of civilians besieged in Yarmouk
Excerpt:
Despite the escalation in fighting, both Syrian government forces and IS fighters have refused to allow any medical or humanitarian aid into the camp, leaving dozens of injured people without access to crucial medical and other life-saving assistance. One of Yarmouk’s two surviving medical facilities, the Palestine Hospital, was struck by a missile injuring six volunteers on 1 April.
“The main injuries here are caused by sniping and shelling…,” a medical worker in Yarmouk told Amnesty International.
“The main illnesses are heart and chest conditions, diarrhoea and infections – and all are worsened by malnutrition. We have a severe lack of medicines and medical equipment and we have an urgent need for rehydration liquids, blood bags and antibiotics.”
There are no relief organizations left working in the camp.
“Immediate and unfettered access to Yarmouk by independent humanitarian agencies is desperately needed to alleviate this relentless suffering,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
According to local activists, Zeinab Daghestani a 12-year-old girl, was shot dead by a sniper on 7 April while trying to flee to the calmer southern part of Yarmouk. Other civilians killed include Majed al-Omari, a humanitarian worker for Jafra Foundation, a relief organization, who is believed to have been shot dead in cross-fire on 3 April. Jamal Khalefe, a 27-year-old media activist, was killed during heavy shelling on the same day. Another young
Palestinian refugee, Hussein Taha, was killed on 6 April when his home was struck by a barrel bomb.
Residents told Amnesty International that some 25 barrel bombs were dropped on Yarmouk over the past week, mostly at night.
Civilians in Yarmouk have found themselves caught between the prospect of IS abuses and the imminent danger posed by government bombardments.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2015/04/syria-barrel-bombs-and-sniper-attacks-compound-misery-of-civilians-besieged-in-yarmouk/
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Excerpt:
Forces loyal to Assad succeeded in surrounding the camp and controlling access to it in February 2013. Military-held checkpoints opened to allow aid to enter and residents to escape, but in July government forces began blocking access points. Yarmouk has now been under siege for more than 180 days.
"All parties to the conflict must urgently facilitate unimpeded access to humanitarian relief to the civilians trapped in Yarmouk, before more children die," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said recently, adding moves to halt the delivery of aid may amount to "a war crime".
As the blockade has drawn on, the humanitarian situation inside the camp has become increasingly dire.
"There is profound human suffering in Yarmouk," said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.
Remaining residents do not have access to enough food or adequate medical treatment, and there are cases of women dying at childbirth, a UNRWA statement said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/starving-death-syria-yarmouk-camp-201412974852695717.html
That's before ISIS came into the camp.
