Refugees in Palestinian camp perish due to Syrian blockade | The FRANCE 24 Observers
For several months now, the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, in southern Damascus, has been blockaded by the Syrian regime in an attempt to root out rebel groups that have made it their base. This has left the refugees living there caught between the two sides and cut off from the rest of the world. Today, they’re in dire need of food and basic supplies.
The camp’s siege began ten months ago as part of a vast military operation intended to recapture the southern suburbs of Syria’s capital. In the past few months, the army has successfully taken control of several suburbs around Yarmouk, enabling it to choke the camp.
Very little information leaks out from the camp, which residents can no longer leave. Communications links are frequently shut off. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog group based in London, believes that 46 people have died there in recent months; however, the UN has only confirmed 15 deaths. These are reportedly due mainly to the lack of food, but also to the camp’s catastrophic sanitary conditions. In addition, many children living there suffer from diseases linked to malnutrition, according to the UN.
A UN humanitarian team attempted to bring food rations and polio vaccines to the camp on Wednesday, but a shootout prevented the convoy from reaching its destination. The Syrian regime and the rebels based at the camp blame each other for this incident.
The Yarmouk camp, created in 1957, is the biggest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, covering 2 square kilometres. Before the start of the Syrian conflict, it was home to more than 148,000 refugees, according to the UN, but thousands have left since then. It is not exclusively home to Palestinians: Syrians of modest means also live there.
Screen grab from a video showing a young man crying of despair in the Yarmouk camp.
