Meanwhile, approximately 3,000 refugees and migrants remain trapped in detention centres close to the fighting in Tripoli.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has issued a report stating that at least 48 civilians have died out of a total death toll of almost 150 since the hostilities began several weeks ago, while over 2,500 have fled the fighting in the last 24 hours alone, bringing the number of displaced to over 18,000, the Libya Herald reported.
The self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), loyal to renegade General Khalifa Hafter who supports the rival House of Representatives (HoR) government in Tobruk in the east, is battling forces loyal to the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli in the west.
In addition to those who have fled and those who have been killed, over a thousand civilians are trapped in the southern outskirts of Tripoli where fighting is continuing despite appeals to be evacuated.
Their evacuation has been stymied by the ongoing clashes, the indiscriminate use of weapons and the deliberate targeting of ambulances with paramedics and doctors among those wounded.
Reports are coming in that doctors and ambulance drivers are now pulling out of the rescue operation citing the high risks they are facing.
Meanwhile, approximately 3,000 refugees and migrants remain trapped in detention centres close to the fighting in Tripoli.
The situation has been exacerbated by some guards abandoning the detention centres and leaving the refugees to survive on their own without basic supplies with these expected to run out in several days.
African News Agency
