EU urges avoiding 'new massacre' in Palestinian refugee camp

The European Union (EU) has called for avoiding a "new massacre" in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, south of the Syrian capital Damascus, with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group taking over most of the territory.

"The security and humanitarian situation in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria has gone from bad to worse. Innocent people are now being used as human shields by the fighting sides," Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, and Christos Stylianides, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, said, according to the Efe news agrncy.

"The Syria crisis has already led to too much suffering. A new massacre must be avoided," they stressed in a joint statement, echoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's remarks on Thursday.

The camp had come under heavy fire in December 2012 during clashes between the Syrian army under Bashar al-Assad on one side and the Free Syrian Army and anti-Assad Palestinians on the other.

The EU urged "all belligerents" and all actors with authority over them to respect international law, to ensure free access for humanitarian aid, and to ensure the safe movement of all civilians who want to "escape".

It also requested to "fully" implement Resolutions 2139, 2165 and 2191 of the UN Security Council (UNSC), which urges warring parties to immediately cease any violence or attacks on civilians, and allow access to humanitarian aid.

At least 47 people have died since the beginning of the IS attack against the Yarmouk camp on April 1, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a watchdog group monitoring the Syrian war.

In March 2011, about 160,000 refugees were living in the refugee camp, but their numbers dwindled to 18,000 after the outbreak of civil war, and have recently fallen to 12,000 according to some sources.