The Washington Post newspaper has warned of a “humanitarian calamity” affecting more than 73,000 people, mostly women and children, who now stay at the al-Hol camp in the countryside of Hasaka province in northwestern Syria.
In article published on Wednesday, the newspaper described the dire situation in the camp east of Hasaka, which hosts hundreds of thousands of people who fled ISIS’s last stronghold in the town of Al-Baghouz in rural Deir Ezzor.
“Amid a sea of white tents, thousands sleep in communal spaces, and children defecate outside. The war wounded are often left untreated. Thousands more are malnourished,” the newspaper said.
The article noted that there are just three mobile clinics at the camp, and local hospitals are swollen with patients critically wounded in the war. Those with non-life-threatening injuries often are given painkillers or antibiotics and sent on their way.
Originally designed to hold a maximum of 20,000 people, the al-Hul camp received a massive influx of IDP after the PYD militia launched the final assault on ISIS’s last foothold in eastern Syria in December.
The World Health Organization on late February said that at least 73 people died in the camp in the last three months, two thirds of whom were children. It called for expediting the issuance of approvals for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the camp.
The IDP in the camp suffer dire humanitarian conditions resulting from the lack of medical care and severe cold which has caused the death of dozens of children. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
