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Children of Yarmouk Risk Starvation and Disease

Lack of food and medicine in Yarmouk refugee camp places thousands of children at risk of preventable diseases, media center claims
Children of Yarmouk Risk Starvation and Disease

The Palestinian Diaspora Media Center announced that the lives of 3,000 children are threatened with starvation or disease under the siege imposed on the Yarmouk refugee camp south of the capital Damascus. The center said in a report that the Syrian regime's militias supported by People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Fatah al-Intifada, continue their siege of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp south of Damascus for the second year in a row. The center stated that forces have prevented food and medical supplies from entering the camp for the third month in a row, fueling a new humanitarian disaster in the stricken camp, where 172 civilians have died of hunger, cold and disease — most of them children and the enderly.

The media center confirmed 3,000 children are currently at risk of death after being diagnosed with anemia, jaundice and hepatitis diseases largely resulting from a lack of food and medicine. The crisis had led to the deaths of dozens of newborn infants, like 20-day-old Mohammed al-Assar, who died on March 1.

Residents of the camp have demanded the United Nations work to end their tragedy and pressure the regime to allow relief and medical aid to enter the camp, and to open a safe passage for displaced people to return to Yarmouk.

Palestinian activists inside and outside Syria have launched campaigns supporting the people of the Yarmouk camp, most recently the "We will not leave the Yarmouk refugee camp" campaign, launched under the slogan "606 days of siege without food".

Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer

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