Urgent food deliveries to people inside war-torn western Mosul

EU Humanitarian Aid and its partner Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) this week distributed urgent food aid to 500 families in districts recently retaken from ISIS militants by Iraqi government troops.

Gunfire and heavy shelling echoed in the area, as families lined up in front of a large truck parked on a side street just one kilometre from the fighting in western Mosul’s old city. The families, living in nearby damaged buildings, said that they have been forced to survive on ground wheat and — in some extreme cases — grass. One elderly resident, Hamda, said that the food situation had been so desperate that one of her younger relatives had died from diarrhoea and malnutrition.

EU partner Norwegian People’s Aid, one of the few humanitarian organisations operating inside western Mosul, provided families with rice, cooking oil, lentils and other items.

“These people have recently been living under ISIS control, deprived for months of food, clean water, healthcare and other essential services,” said Luigi Pandolfi, a technical advisor with EU Humanitarian Aid in Iraq.

“There’s rightfully a large humanitarian focus on the tens of thousands of people who live in camps further from Mosul, but people in areas which have been recently retaken from ISIS are also in desperate need.”

As the fighting continues, over 100 000 civilians remain trapped in the crossfire between the Iraqi army and ISIS fighters in Mosul’s old city.

On a side street in the al-Thawra neighbourhood — just one kilometer from the active frontline between the Iraqi army and ISIS fighters — EU Humanitarian Aid partner Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) set up a food distribution point. Soon, a long line of people formed. Photo: EU/ECHO/Peter Biro.

Most of western Mosul has recently been retaken from ISIS by Iraqi troops. Once-bustling neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. Sidewalks are lined with concrete debris, burnt cars and twisted lamp posts. Photo: Peter EU/ECHO/Peter Biro.

Al-Thawra was recently retaken from ISIS by Iraqi troops. Community members complained about severe food shortages and a lack of healthcare, clean water and other necessities. Photo: EU/ECHO/Peter Biro.

Children have been particularly affected by food shortages with smaller children chronically malnourished, community members said. Photo: EU/ECHO/Peter Biro.

Mosul’s general hospital under heavy rocket and small arms fire on June 14. At the moment, at least 100 000 people remain trapped by the fighting, which is taking place in densely populated areas where ISIS fighters walk among the civilian population. Photo: EU/ECHO/Peter Biro.

Photos and text by Peter Biro, EU Humanitarian Aid.

Learn more about EU Humanitarian Aid in Iraq