UNITED NATIONS, April 17 (Xinhua) -- A UN spokesman said Monday that nearly half a million people had been forced to leave from their homes since the start of military operations to retake Mosul that began six months ago.
Citing the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande, who called the sheer volume of civilians still leaving the city "staggering," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the worst case scenario was that up to 1 million people might flee Mosul.
The UN estimates that as many as 500,000 people remain in the Islamic State-controlled parts of western Mosul, including 400,000 people in the old city.
Grande was cited as saying that although nearly 2 million people had received life-saving assistance and families were being reached with aid, Mosul had pushed humanitarian agencies to their operational limits.
