UNICEF delivers aid to displaced Yarmouk families who were unreachable two years ago

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday that it has delivered aid to families displaced from Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus.

According to a statement issued by UNICEF, a copy of which was made available to Anadolu agency, the organisation said that it was able to reach families in Yalda, Beit Sahem and Babbila, areas located about 10 km to the south of Damascus and which foreign aid has not been able to enter for the last two years.

The organisation confirmed that it was able to send medical supplies to over 3,000 people, including 5 midwifery kits (enough for 250 normal deliveries), along with clothing, materials and food supplements for children.

According to the UNICEF staff who were part of the aid convoys, 50 000 people live in these areas, in addition to about 2,500 Palestinian refugee families who fled the Yarmouk camp.

UNICEF spokesman Juliette Touma said they were not previously able to access these areas because they could not get permission from the Syrian government.

UNICEF noted that the aid supplies passed by 5 checkpoints before it reached those areas.

Syrian regime forces have been surrounding the Yarmouk refugee camp for nearly three years. The camp is currently inhabited by an estimated 18,000 Palestinians.

Half a million Palestinians lived in Yarmouk before the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011. But since the camp has been put under siege and subjected to “daily bombardment” in the past two years, at least 185,000 of the camp’s inhabitants fled to other areas inside Syria or to neighbouring countries, according to the Syrian Human Rights Network.