For Ahmed Jassim, a displaced citizen from Mosul, this year's holy fasting month of Ramadan is the worst he has encountered in a lifetime marked by wars and deprivations.
The only wish he makes in his prayers is to return home in Mosul's northern area of Badush.
“The ease and comfort you feel at home cannot be felt in a tent. There is a huge difference between being at home or in a tent. It is difficult. It would have been even harder if not for the air coolers. It is so hot that we cannot put our hand on the (tent's) plastic sheet,” said Jassim, a father of nine, as he was breaking his fast with his family at their tent in the al-Khazer refugee camp near Erbil.
The eight-month old US-backed campaign to capture Mosul, the de facto capital of Islamic State in Iraq, reached its deadliest phase just as the holy Muslim month started at end of May, when the militants became squeezed into and around the densely populated Old City.
“It is much better here than under Islamic State. Our life was so tragic: starvation, thirst, no electricity and fear. We lost everything. We lost our money, belongings and houses,” said Mohammed Abad Aswad who fled his home with his 11-member family.
Up to 200,000 people are trapped behind Islamic State lines, half of them children, according to the United Nations.
About 800,000 people, more than a third of the pre-war city's population, have already fled, seeking refuge either with friends and relatives or in camps.
Those who chose to stay in Mosul are increasingly confronted with the prospect of either dying of hunger or sickness or dying in an attempt to flee.
“It is true that no place is better than home. We hope to return back to our home. It is true that we feel good at the camp as I said, but there is no work here. We are selling our belongings to buy vegetables, meat and ice blocks. We sell what we have to buy food,” Aswad added.
The struggle to buy food is unlikely to get any easier. Prices have risen by more than 20 times as supplies become scarce and whatever is left is hidden away from the militants, who are keen on feeding themselves first.
REUTERS
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