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Humanitarian agencies warn of "massive" needs in Iraq's Mosul

Xinhua, November 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nov. 17 marks one month of intensified military operations to retake the city of Mosul in Iraq, humanitarian agencies in Iraq faces massive needs, and these latest developments further exacerbate a humanitarian crisis in a country where 10 million people already were in need of aid, a UN spokesman told reporters here Thursday.

Nearly 59,000 people have been displaced, about 26,000 of them children, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here, adding that tens of thousands of families in newly retaken areas urgently required life-saving assistance.

"The United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have begun to provide assistance to displaced and resident families in newly retaken areas," Haq said.

More than 40,000 displaced people have found shelter in formal camps in three governorates prepared and managed by the Iraqi government, the United Nations and NGOs, he added.

The United Nations and NGOs are grateful for the support they have received from donors but urgently need additional resources to support the tens of thousands of families who need help, he said. "With winter approaching, and temperatures dramatically dropping at night, families, many who fled their homes with virtually nothing, need heaters, blankets and other winter items."

"The humanitarian community calls on all parties to the conflict to do their utmost to protect the rights and lives of civilians and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law," he added.

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.

Mosul, some 400 km 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