UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien said he is extremely concerned for the safety of up to 1.5 million people living in Mosul who may be impacted by military operations to retake the city from Daesh. 

"Families are at extreme risk of being caught in cross-fire or targeted by snipers. Tens of thousands of Iraqi girls, boys, women and men may be under siege or held as human shields," the UN official said in a statement on Iraq. 

Thousands may be forcibly expelled or trapped between the fighting lines. Children, women, the elderly and disabled will be particularly vulnerable, the statement said.

Depending on the intensity and scope of the fighting, as many as one million people may be forced to flee their homes in a worst-case scenario, it added.

He renewed his call to all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under
international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to the assistance they are entitled to and deserve. Nothing is more important.

Source: MENA