249 families escape besieged Fallujah, says refugee organisation

249 families have successfully managed to escape the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah, as fighting in the city intensified, according to humanitarian organisation The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

More than 50,000 people are trapped in Fallujah as an offensive to push the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group from the Iraqi city intensified. Hundreds of people fled on Friday as humanitarian conditions rapidly deteriorated, with Iraqi forces continuing to surround the city, determined to flush out the ISIL fighters inside.

NRC reported 99 new families as having registered with it since yesterday afternoon.

The United Nations said nearly 800 people had escaped over the past week, but most of those from the outskirts of the city, where ISIL control was weaker. No families have managed to leave Fallujah’s centre since Monday 23 May, when one family was registered as having escaped. Some in the Sunni city had reportedly welcomed ISIL's takeover of the city as an alternative to what they considered their marginalisation at the hands of Iraq's Shia-dominated government. Locals, though, say conditions there have deteriorated under the group's control.

51 of the families came to Amiriyat Al Fallujah from Al Sajer, Karma and were evacuated and transported by Iraqi forces, via Baghdad. The 11-hour trip has so far been the only safe way to the camp, according to reports.

The NRC is currently working on delivering emergency aid to around 1,500 civilians who are reportedly sheltered in schools in Markaz Al Souk in Karma. NRC teams are also on the ground in refugee camps in Amiriyat al Fallujah 24 hours a day to receive newly displaced and delivering food, water and hygiene kits to over 200 families sheltering there.

“We are receiving hundreds of displaced Iraqis from the outskirts of Fallujah who are totally exhausted, afraid and hungry,” NRC Country Director in Iraq, Nasr Muflahi, said. “Thousands more remain trapped in the centre of Fallujah, cut off from aid and any form of protection. They need aid urgently, now. Every day that passes means more innocent victims and more civilians at risk.”

One NRC aid worker in the Al Iraq camp receiving the families from Al Sajer, Karma last night graphically described the exhaustion of those arrivals from Al Sajer “The trip took around 11 hours ...They look very pale and malnourished.”

One mother described her son's joy at finally having a proper meal after months eating expired dates.“When we arrived here and local people distributed boiled eggs and bread, my son was so happy to enjoy a meal that we have missed for the last six months”.