63 people die in Syria refugee camp: Activists

Beirut: A Syrian activist group says 63 people have died over the past months in a besieged Palestinian refugee camp from a lack of food and medicine.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday that the first person died in Damascus`s Yarmouk camp in June.

Yarmouk, on the southern fringe of Damascus, is one of the worst-hit besieged areas in Syria.
Activists and residents previously said that some 50 people died of starvation and hunger-related illnesses since the government imposed a blockade on the sprawling district a year ago.

Over the past week, authorities allowed a few hundred food parcels to reach the camp in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture ahead of a peace conference in Switzerland.