45,000 people displaced by military operations in north Iraqi city

The UN Office for the Coordination Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday said that a further 3,300 people have been displaced since Wednesday, bringing the number of people displaced in context of the Mosul military operations to more than 45,000 since Oct. 17, a UN spokesman told reporters here.

"At this rate, camp capacity is still keeping pace with the steady flow of displacement, but additional camp space and emergency shelter options will be needed in the next week to accommodate anticipated displacements," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Total camp capacity is expected to expand to 90,000 available spaces by mid-November, the spokesman noted.

A Wednesday humanitarian mission to Hamam Al Alil and Al Shura, approximately 23 kilometres south of Mosul City, reported that an estimated 71,000 people in the villages, he said.

"Priority needs include food, potable water and health care," Dujarric said, adding that the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement has organised a first distribution, but sustained humanitarian assistance is needed in these villages.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city, in a bid to liberate the northern Iraqi city, the last major Islamic State (IS) stronghold in Iraq.

So far, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul, and made progress on other routes around the city preparing for the major battle to storm the city and drive out the IS militants.

Mosul, some 400 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Enditem