The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has frequently warned about the dire conditions in Yarmouk.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness Thursday described “extreme human suffering” in the camp, saying food shortages continued and that the absence of medical care had led to women dying in childbirth.
Syria’s army has imposed sieges on several rebel towns and neighborhoods near Damascus and beyond.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, meanwhile, also warned that aid was not reaching civilians in Syria as he began a visit to Syria to assess the humanitarian situation and negotiate greater field access for the ICRC.
The ICRC president will hold talks in Damascus with a number of senior Syrian government officials and with the leadership and volunteers of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the ICRC’s main partner in the country. Maurer will also be visiting people suffering the effects of the conflict to observe the situation first-hand.
“I am deeply concerned about the escalating violence and its impact on civilians,” Maurer said. “I am determined to press for greater field access for the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent – in particular, to improve the impartial delivery of medical aid in besieged areas. Another priority is to ensure that our staff are rapidly given access to Syrian places of detention to assess conditions and treatment.”
Yarmouk was once home to some 170,000 people but tens of thousands have fled fighting in the camp.
Syria is officially home to nearly 500,000 Palestinian refugees, around half of whom have been displaced by the conflict.
