Saturday, April 04, 2015

Hamas Calls for Halting Violence in Syria's Yarmouk Camp
Palestinian faction Hamas has called for halting fighting in Syria's Yarmouk refugee camp.

In a Saturday statement, Hamas deputy leader Ismail Haniyeh said that the camp should be "neutralizing" from the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Violence has flared up in the Yarmouk camp since Wednesday when militants from Daesh group – which overran vast territories in both Syria and Iraq – stormed the camp.

The Yarmouk refugee camp is the biggest Palestinian camp in Syria.

At least 166 Palestinians starved to death in mid-2013 when Syrian regime forces besieged the camp.

Syria has been ravaged by a deadly civil war since 2011, when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad violently cracked down on anti-government demonstrations.

More than 190,000 people have been killed in the conflict to date, according to recent UN figures.

Prior to the Syrian conflict, Palestinians living in Syria were estimated at some 581,000 – one third of which had been living in the Yarmouk camp, according to UN figures.

However, thousands of Palestinians in Syria have fled to neighboring Lebanon and Jordan, while hundreds of others managed to flee to the Gaza Strip as the conflict between Assad's forces and armed opposition groups raged on.

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