Winter cold kills 29 children at displacement camp in Syria: UN

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – At least 29 children and babies have died due to the cold winter temperatures in a displaced persons camp in northeastern Syria, the United Nations said on Thursday.

According to the UN’s World Health Organization, the deaths occurred over the past two months at the Al-Hol camp, located in the east part of Syria’s al-Hasakah province.

The camp has seen an increase in numbers of residents as Syrian Kurdish-led forces, backed by the US-led coalition, are fighting the Islamic State in its last remaining pocket of territory in the Deir al-Zor province.

The WHO expressed its concerns at the conditions displaced persons have experienced at the camp, warning in a statement that the situation “is now critical.”

“At least 29 children and newborns are reported to have died over the past eight weeks, mainly from hypothermia, while traveling to the camp or shortly after arrival,” the statement read.

About “23,000 people, mainly women and children fleeing hostilities in rural areas of neighboring Deir al-Zor” had reached the camp over the two months, it added.

“Many of them have walked or traveled in open trucks for several days and nights in the bitterly cold winter weather.”

According to the UN’s health agency, the displaced civilians were often made to wait before they were permitted into the camp as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) screened groups to identify any members of the Islamic State who were attempting to infiltrate displaced civilians and sneak in.

The camp’s size has tripled from 10,000 people to over 30,000 in less than two months, the WHO warned, highlighting the need for “urgent and unhindered humanitarian access.”  

In neighboring Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Tuesday that it was part of an effort to distribute winter supplies to nearly 125,000 displaced persons.

“As the temperature in Iraq regularly drops below freezing in the winter months, displaced and returnee households living in tents, temporary shelters or severely damaged homes are at increased risk of various health concerns, including hypothermia,” read a statement. 

Editing by John J. Catherine