UN Allocates $15m to support Fallujah IDPs

The UN Humanitarian Response Plan in Iraq has called for $861 million to address the needs of people affected by the current crisis. To date, the appeal is only 36 per cent funded, OCHA said.

A further $65 million will be needed to respond to the current situation in Fallujah. This is expected to further strain already stretched resources and force humanitarian partners to reprioritize existing relief supplies and services, OCHA noted.

Contingency stocks are nearly depleted, which could leave other communities in the country potentially vulnerable. While agencies have been preparing for the Fallujah situation for some time, the number of displaced people and the scope of their needs have outpaced humanitarian capacity, OCHA emphasized.

Humanitarian update on Fallujah

In a humanitarian update released earlier today, OCHA reported that more than 83,000 people have fled the besieged city of Fallujah and surrounding areas as of this past Saturday, and thousands more could still be on the move amid ongoing fighting.

OCHA highlighted that since military operations led by Iraqi security forces to retake Fallujah in Anbar from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) began on 22 May, people have fled Fallujah in rapidly increasing numbers.

Most people initially fled outlying areas of Fallujah, but on 7 June, reports were received of some families leaving Fallujah city itself, as military operations began to enter the city centre. In the past few days, tens of thousands of people have been allowed to leave the centre of town, OCHA said.