Red Cross calls for immediate aid for Syria’s Yarmouk camp

FILE - This Feb. 24, 2014, file photo released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shows damage and debris on one of the main streets of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, Syria. Yarmouk was established in 1957 as a refuge for Palestinians who were forced out of their homes with the 1948 creation of Israel, and expanded with time to include thousands of Syrians as well. (AP Photo/UNRWA, File) FILE - This Feb. 24, 2014, file photo released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shows damage and debris on one of the main streets of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, Syria. Yarmouk was established in 1957 as a refuge for Palestinians who were forced out of their homes with the 1948 creation of Israel, and expanded with time to include thousands of Syrians as well. (AP Photo/UNRWA, File)

By Associated Press April 9, 2015 1 min read

BEIRUT (AP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for immediate access for humanitarian aid to an embattled Palestinian camp in the Syrian capital.

The ICRC says emergency medical care is “urgently needed” for the estimated 18,000 people still inside the Yarmouk camp, which has been engulfed by fighting since Islamic State militants last week overran much of the sprawling camp.

It says humanitarian needs “are growing by the day.”

The current bout of fighting is just the latest trial for Yarmouk, where residents have already endured a two-year government siege, starvation and disease.

In a statement Thursday, the ICRC called on the armed factions to allow the “immediate and unimpeded passage” of humanitarian aid and to permit civilians who wish to flee to be able to do so.