Published : 10-01-2022
AGPS has documented the death of 204 Palestinian refugees due to malnutrition and medical neglect as a result of the tough siege slapped a few years earlier by the Syrian regime on Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus.
The camp continues to grapple with the devastating consequences of the attacks and air strikes launched by the Syrian regime forces and their Russian partners using explosive barrels, missiles, and internationally-prohibited munitions.
As over 3,000 civilians has remained trapped in the camp, the health situation had gone sharply downhill. Hundreds of civilian residents sustained life-threatening diseases. All hospitals and clinics in the camp, except for the under-equipped Palestine Hospital, have gone out of operation due to the acute shortage in medical stuff and specialized practitioners as a result of the tough blockade imposed by the regime army and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) for several months in a row.
In a report issued in March 2014, Amnesty International revealed that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been carried out on Palestinian and Syrian civilians in Yarmouk, on the outskirts of Damascus, which was under brutal siege by Syrian government forces.
The report, “Squeezing the life out of Yarmouk: War crimes against besieged civilians”, published ahead of the third anniversary of the crisis in Syria, highlighted the deaths of nearly 200 inpiduals since the siege was tightened in July 2013 and access to crucial food and medical supplies was cut off. According to Amnesty International’s research, 128 of those who had died starved to death in the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that had emerged.
“Life in Yarmouk has grown increasingly unbearable for desperate civilians who find themselves starving and trapped in a downward cycle of suffering with no means of escape,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. “Civilians of Yarmouk are being treated like pawns in a deadly game in which they have no control.”
The report highlighted that government forces and their allies had repeatedly carried out attacks, including air raids and shelling with heavy weapons, on civilian buildings such as schools, hospitals and a mosque in Yarmouk. Some of the areas attacked had served as shelters for people who had been internally displaced by the conflict. Doctors and medical staff had also been targeted.
“Launching indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, leading to deaths and injuries, is a war crime. To repeatedly strike a heavily populated area, where the civilians have no means of escape, demonstrates a ruthless attitude and a callous disregard for the most basic principles of international humanitarian law,” said Philip Luther.
At least 60 per cent of those remaining in Yarmouk were said to be suffering from malnutrition. Residents told Amnesty International they had not eaten fruit or vegetables for many months. Prices had skyrocketed with a kilo of rice costing up to US$100.
“Syrian forces are committing war crimes by using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. The harrowing accounts of families having to resort to eating cats and dogs, and civilians attacked by snipers as they forage for food, have become all too familiar details of the horror story that has materialized in Yarmouk,” said Philip Luther.
Reports had emerged of women dying in childbirth. Children and the elderly have suffered the most. Eighteen children including babies had died. Complications had also arisen from residents eating inedible or poisonous plants and dog meat.
AGPS has documented the death of 204 Palestinian refugees due to malnutrition and medical neglect as a result of the tough siege slapped a few years earlier by the Syrian regime on Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus.
The camp continues to grapple with the devastating consequences of the attacks and air strikes launched by the Syrian regime forces and their Russian partners using explosive barrels, missiles, and internationally-prohibited munitions.
As over 3,000 civilians has remained trapped in the camp, the health situation had gone sharply downhill. Hundreds of civilian residents sustained life-threatening diseases. All hospitals and clinics in the camp, except for the under-equipped Palestine Hospital, have gone out of operation due to the acute shortage in medical stuff and specialized practitioners as a result of the tough blockade imposed by the regime army and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) for several months in a row.
In a report issued in March 2014, Amnesty International revealed that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been carried out on Palestinian and Syrian civilians in Yarmouk, on the outskirts of Damascus, which was under brutal siege by Syrian government forces.
The report, “Squeezing the life out of Yarmouk: War crimes against besieged civilians”, published ahead of the third anniversary of the crisis in Syria, highlighted the deaths of nearly 200 inpiduals since the siege was tightened in July 2013 and access to crucial food and medical supplies was cut off. According to Amnesty International’s research, 128 of those who had died starved to death in the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that had emerged.
“Life in Yarmouk has grown increasingly unbearable for desperate civilians who find themselves starving and trapped in a downward cycle of suffering with no means of escape,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. “Civilians of Yarmouk are being treated like pawns in a deadly game in which they have no control.”
The report highlighted that government forces and their allies had repeatedly carried out attacks, including air raids and shelling with heavy weapons, on civilian buildings such as schools, hospitals and a mosque in Yarmouk. Some of the areas attacked had served as shelters for people who had been internally displaced by the conflict. Doctors and medical staff had also been targeted.
“Launching indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, leading to deaths and injuries, is a war crime. To repeatedly strike a heavily populated area, where the civilians have no means of escape, demonstrates a ruthless attitude and a callous disregard for the most basic principles of international humanitarian law,” said Philip Luther.
At least 60 per cent of those remaining in Yarmouk were said to be suffering from malnutrition. Residents told Amnesty International they had not eaten fruit or vegetables for many months. Prices had skyrocketed with a kilo of rice costing up to US$100.
“Syrian forces are committing war crimes by using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. The harrowing accounts of families having to resort to eating cats and dogs, and civilians attacked by snipers as they forage for food, have become all too familiar details of the horror story that has materialized in Yarmouk,” said Philip Luther.
Reports had emerged of women dying in childbirth. Children and the elderly have suffered the most. Eighteen children including babies had died. Complications had also arisen from residents eating inedible or poisonous plants and dog meat.
