INTERVIEW-Plight of Iraq's Palestinian refugees worsens-UN

Intense heat and a lack of water and medical care are making life "hell" for around 1,000 Palestinians stranded in a camp near Iraq's border with Syria, a U.N. official who visited the refugees said on Monday. A baby has died from fever and a man from asthma at the desolate al-Waleed camp in the desert. A 13-year-old needs a back operation to avoid paralysis and a two-year-old girl with cerebral palsy has no specialist care, said Michelle Alfaro, Iraq protection officer for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "The refugee numbers are swelling by the day. It's a tragedy for these people to start dying from preventable diseases after escaping Baghdad to save their lives," said Alfaro, who obtained a clearance from the Syrian authorities to cross to the camp...

continua / continued