Ongoing fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli left thousands of displaced and trapped people, which forced local and international relief organizations to announce state of emergency in the city.
UNICEF announced Tuesday sending a plane to Misurata airport, northwestern Libya, carrying 18 tons of emergency supplies.
The U.N. agency said these supplies will be distributed to children and families suffering from the conflict in the Libyan capital and the surrounding areas, adding that the clashes affected the lives of about 1.5 million people, including half a million children.
“Libya has suffered through more than seven years of persistent conflict that has left at least 820,000 people, including some 250,000 children, in dire need of humanitarian assistance and the situation is deteriorating yet again. For their sake, and the sake of the country’s future, the fighting must stop,” UNICEF said.
The death toll resulting from the ongoing fighting between the rival Libyan factions in the capital has risen to 264, and over 1,266 others have been wounded, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.
On April 4, Libyan General Khalifa Haftar launched a military operation to recapture Tripoli from the U.N.-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). The campaign has so far, not only failed to seize the city, but also led to casualties on both sides.
Fighting in Tripoli’s southern suburbs has displaced at least 35,000 people, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Libya Maria do Valle Ribeiro said Monday.
African countries called Tuesday in a joint statement for an “immediate and unconditional halt” to fighting in Libya following a summit in Cairo led by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, current chair of the African Union.
Egypt and the UAE, who strongly oppose Islamist militants and the Muslim Brotherhood, back Haftar.
Libya has remained beset by turmoil since 2011, when an uprising led to the ouster and death of former president Muammar Qaddafi after four decades in power.
Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of power: one in the eastern city of al-Bayda, to which Haftar is linked, and another in Tripoli, led by Faiez al-Sarraj.
