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Some 10,000 people fleeing west Mosul every day, UN migration agency warns

26 May 2017 – Citing Iraqi Government figures, the United Nations migration agency today warned that the number of people fleeing West Mosul is soaring – on 18 May, hitting a peak when some 16,100 transited through the Hamam al-Alil screening site – the largest official daily movement of people since the October 2016 military offence began.

“The fact that huge numbers of Iraqis continue to flee West Mosul, despite the dangers involved, is a testament of both the the dire situation inside, and the enormous task ahead of us to alleviate the suffering of IDPs [internally displaced persons],” said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Iraq Chief of Mission, Thomas Lothar Weiss.

According to the military and camp management at Hamam al-Alil, an average of 10,000 individuals fleeing West Mosul arrives at the transit zone on a daily basis.

With gruelling high temperatures during the day, most leave at night, walking several hours before reaching the nearest military checkpoints. From there, they are transported to Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul, on the western banks of the Euphrates, which has become the transit hub for the tens of thousands of families fleeing the West Mosul conflict [.....]