HRW and MSF call on the Jordanian Government to urgently allow food and water to reach over 65,000 Syrians stranded on the Syrian-Jordanian border.
For the past two weeks, the Government has blocked food aid and restricted water deliveries to the border region in the wake of ISIS bombing attack.
The Muslim holiday of Eid El Fitr is supposed to be a time of feast, but as the end of Ramadan celebrations continue across the Middle East, in Jordan the Government is blocking food aid to tens of thousands of desperate Syrians trapped in the desert.
Gerry Simpson, spokesperson for HRW, said Jordanian authorities have blocked food deliveries to the informal Rukban Syrian camp on the Jordanian-Syrian border since June 21, 2016.
“We are extremely concerned because we have just had confirmation again this morning that no food or medical aid and only tiny amounts of water have been let through by the Jordanian authorities,” he said.
The camp is in the middle of the desert. Temperatures reach over 40 degrees Celsius daily and more than half the people trapped there are women and children.
MSF is urgently calling on Jordanian authorities to allow full humanitarian access to the camp.
“The immediate need is to be able to get to these people and to be able to deliver them water food and healthcare, especially emergency healthcare, as soon as possible,” Mr Kolovos said, ABC reported.
