UN Security Council demands aid access to Yarmuk

UNITED NATIONS – The UN Security Council on Monday, April 6, demanded access for life-saving humanitarian aid to reach refugees trapped in Syria’s Yarmuk camp after it was partly seized by the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

ISIS fighters have captured large swaths of the Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus in an offensive launched on April 1 and hundreds of families have been evacuated.

The 15-member council called “for the protection of civilians in the camp for ensuring a humanitarian access to the area including by providing life-saving assistance,” said Jordan’s Ambassador Dina Kawar, who chairs the council this month.

Kawar told reporters after a closed-door council meeting that there was deep concern over the “grave situation” for the 18,000 refugees in the camp and demanded safe passage for the evacuation of civilians.

The council is ready to consider “further measures to provide necessary assistance,” said Kawar, but she did not provide details. 

The council received a report from Pierre Krahenbuhl, of the Palestinian UNRWA relief agency, who described the situation in the camp as “more desperate than ever.”

Krahenbuhl told reporters that he appealed to countries with influence in Syria to act “for civilian lives to be spared and for humanitarian access to be given.”

The UNRWA chief said he was unable to verify that ISIS had carried out beheadings in the camp.

Jihadists from ISIS first attacked the camp, just seven kilometers (four miles) from central Damascus, on Wednesday.

The camp is encircled by government forces and was under a tight siege for more than a year.

The UNRWA chief said refugees were living on rations of some 400 calories per day, well below the minimum average of 2,000 set by the World Health Organization.

“What civilians in Yarmuk are most concerned about right now is bare survival,” he said.

Palestinian refugees who leave Yarmuk will face relocation to some other area of Syria, Krahenbuhl said. – Rappler.com