KHAZIR, Iraq — The UN refugee agency distributed aid on Monday to dozens of Iraqi families uprooted from their homes in and around the city of Mosul, warning that their needs will only increase as winter progresses and temperatures continue to fall below zero.

UNHCR aid workers handed out kerosene heaters, jerry cans, plastic sheets and hygiene kits to about 30 families. Unlike in some areas inside Mosul where chaos erupted when hundreds of civilians overwhelmed aid trucks, the people lined up to get the aid in a camp in the town of Khazir, about 30 kilometres east of Mosul.

“We have received these items. But we need heating oil,” said Haider Mahmoud Ahmed.

“They’re here. Blankets, a heater, but we don’t have water, drinking water. All the tankers around here are empty. There is no water in them. We want them to be filled so we can live,” Ahmed added. “Yesterday we were freezing. There is no heating oil.”

 Some displaced are still haunted by what they experienced before leaving for the camp.

“It was raining mortars on us. There were snipers. And a rocket landed in the middle of the front yard. Inside the garage,” said Abdullah Ahmed Saleh.

The UNHCR’s senior public information officer, Caroline Gluck, said the aid items are part of emergency assistance “for families who’ve literally fled for their lives. Often most don’t have anything apart from what they’re wearing”.

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