BEIRUT
Palestinians in the Yarmouk refugee camp in eastern Damascus are applying for humanitarian asylum after their pleas for help have been ignored by the international community.
"I haven't seen electric light or eaten bread for six months," an eight-year-old child said in a videotaped inside the camp this week and obtained by Anadolu Agency.
Yarmouk was once home to Syria's largest population of Palestinian refugees with 144,000 registered refugees, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA).
The camp has been under siege by Syrian troops for nearly seven months.
Thousands of its residents have since fled.
The residents have called on the international community to help them leave the camp for another country – one, they say, that respects their rights as human beings.
"In the name of humanity, we call on the international community to help us either go back to our country [Palestine] or to a third country that respects our human rights," read a banner hung by camp residents over a school building.
Some residents criticized Arab governments – along with the Palestine Liberation Organization – for their collective failure to help ease their plight.
The Syrian government recently allowed UNRWA to bring limited amounts of aid into the camp.
Hunger has, however, become a daily fact of life for inhabitants of the camp, whose main concern is finding enough food for themselves and their children.
"I swear to God, we're hungry," said one 11-year-old girl from the camp.
More than 50 camp residents – including a number of children – have starved to death, while others face the same fate in the total absence of humanitarian aid, according to activists.
"We've only had animal grass to eat and water to drink," cried the young girl.
By Paula Astih
englishnews@aa.com.tr
