Alwaght - Tens of thousands of longtime Palestinian refugees in a camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital have been cut off from United Nations emergency aid for nearly two months by terrorist groups that are preventing access, Reuters reported.
Up to 18,000 people are living inside the devastated Yarmouk camp, which is besieged by terrorists including al Qaeda's Nusra Front. Food, water, and medicine are scarce .
Last year "a degree of cooperation" allowed aid to enter after several months of being blocked, but access has again vanished with a deterioration of security, said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, head of the U.N.'s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA .
"We really haven't been able to bring in any assistance since early December," he told Reuters .
Yarmouk was home to more half a million Palestinian refugees before Syria's conflict began in 2011. Most have fled abroad or to elsewhere in Syria. Those who stayed face worsening conditions, including price rises and a severe winter, Kraehenbuehl said .
"They can't withstand too many shocks at the same time," he said .
Kraehenbuehl said he had urged Lebanese officials to allow Palestinians fleeing Syria to enter .
About 44,000 Palestinians from Syria are now living in Lebanon, but tighter entry restrictions have meant that few have been able to enter since May ,
Lebanon also hosts 1.5 million Syrians who fled the war, giving it the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.
More than 60 years ago Lebanon took in Palestinian refugees from the war of Israeli regime's creation. The population grew to hundreds of thousands, many now living in dilapidated settlements .
Kraehenbuehl also voiced concern about Gaza, where the U.N. agency said last week that a lack of money had forced it to suspend payments to Palestinians for repairs to homes damaged in Israeli regime's 51-day offensive .
Donors had paid only around $100 million of the $720 million needed, he said .
