UN: No food or water at Palestinian camp in Syria

17 April 2016, 7:56 pm

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Conditions are “desperate” inside a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, with shortages of food and water, the UN says.

UNRWA, the UN refugee agency for Palestinians, says violent battles between extremists have left residents of the Yarmouk camp without food or water for more than a week.

“Civilians in Yarmouk are facing starvation and dehydration alongside the heightened risks of serious injury and death from the armed conflict,” says UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.

The camp, a built-up neighborhood once home to an estimated 150,000 people, is ravaged by fighting between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, while government forces regularly shell it from outside.

— AP