Al Hol Camp, Syria
At least 517 people, mostly children, died in 2019 in an overstretched Syrian camp housing displaced people and relatives of Islamic State group fighters, the Kurdish Red Crescent told Thursday.
The Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria is home to around 68,000 people who are reliant on humanitarian assistance, especially during harsh winter month.
A Kurdish Red Crescent spokesperson said 371 children are among the 517 people who died in the squalid tent city in 2019.
Malnutrition, poor healthcare for newborns, and hypothermia during harsh winter months are among the main causes of death among children, Dalal Ismail told AFP at the camp.
“The situation is tragic and the burden is huge,” she said, adding that foreigners were among the children who have died. Syrians and Iraqis form the bulk of the camp’s residents.
Al-Hol is also home to thousands of foreigners, mainly relatives of IS fighters who are kept in a guarded section of the camp under the watch of security forces.
Kurdish authorities say they are holding 12,000 foreigners, including 4,000 women and 8,000 children, in three displacement camps in northeastern Syria. The majority are being held in al-Hol.
Jaber Mustafa, an official in the camp, said that assistance delivered by aid groups is “not enough” to address the “great suffering” of residents.— APP
