Published : 10-04-2022
After more than a decade of bloody conflict, families who have returned to Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus, have been grappling with a dire humanitarian situation.
The absence of vital facilities, most notably healthcare services and access to education, along with the poor infrastructure and absence of means of transportation have made the situation unbearable in the camp.
At the same time, the residents continue to grapple with a chronic power blackout and exorbitant electricity bills. Mounds of rubble pile and uncleared garbage have made access out of and into the area quite a difficult task.
Landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are particularly unpredictable and difficult to detect, also continue to put millions of people, including Palestine refugees, at risk.
The residents have raised concerns over their children’s safety as packs of stray dogs have been spotted in and around the camp.
Over recent years, most of Yarmouk’s families have lived on sporadic aid handed over to them by UNRWA.
Civilians continue to appeal to the concerned authorities to speed up reconstruction works and rehabilitate infrastructure and vital facilities, including water and power networks.
Thousands of Palestinian refugees were forced out of Yarmouk Camp after the Syrian fighter jets struck the area in late 2012. Dozens were killed and hundreds wounded in the onslaught. The situation went downhill after ISIS militias grabbed hold of the camp in April 2015 and closed off vital thoroughfares to the area. Scores of other stranded families fled the camp following the 33-day military operation launched by the government forces on April 19.
Before the crisis started in 2011, Yarmouk was a bustling home to almost 30 percent of the Palestine refugee population in Syria. Today, the weight of displacement, hardship and the loss of loved ones add to the difficult living conditions in Yarmouk.
After more than a decade of bloody conflict, families who have returned to Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus, have been grappling with a dire humanitarian situation.
The absence of vital facilities, most notably healthcare services and access to education, along with the poor infrastructure and absence of means of transportation have made the situation unbearable in the camp.
At the same time, the residents continue to grapple with a chronic power blackout and exorbitant electricity bills. Mounds of rubble pile and uncleared garbage have made access out of and into the area quite a difficult task.
Landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are particularly unpredictable and difficult to detect, also continue to put millions of people, including Palestine refugees, at risk.
The residents have raised concerns over their children’s safety as packs of stray dogs have been spotted in and around the camp.
Over recent years, most of Yarmouk’s families have lived on sporadic aid handed over to them by UNRWA.
Civilians continue to appeal to the concerned authorities to speed up reconstruction works and rehabilitate infrastructure and vital facilities, including water and power networks.
Thousands of Palestinian refugees were forced out of Yarmouk Camp after the Syrian fighter jets struck the area in late 2012. Dozens were killed and hundreds wounded in the onslaught. The situation went downhill after ISIS militias grabbed hold of the camp in April 2015 and closed off vital thoroughfares to the area. Scores of other stranded families fled the camp following the 33-day military operation launched by the government forces on April 19.
Before the crisis started in 2011, Yarmouk was a bustling home to almost 30 percent of the Palestine refugee population in Syria. Today, the weight of displacement, hardship and the loss of loved ones add to the difficult living conditions in Yarmouk.
