The UN Security Council has called for life-saving assistance and the safe evacuation of Palestinians after fighting among militants threatened a refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus.
The council was forced into an emergency meeting late on Monday after Islamic State (IS) militants began pushing into the Yarmouk camp in what is the group's deepest foray into the Syrian capital so far.
During the meeting, UN head of Palestinian refugees Pierre Krahenbuhl called the humanitarian situation in the camp "completely catastrophic."
The capture of the camp places IS just five miles from the centre of the capital, with 18,000 residents without access to food, water or medicine.
The situation in Yarmouk has been described as "beyond inhumane" by civil rights activists, with the area being shelled and people trapped in their homes.
Yarmouk has seen increased shelling and sporadic street fighting after the militant group stormed the southern area of the city on Wednesday.
Chris Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWSA, a UN support agency for Palestinian refugees, said activists had not been able to get aid into the area since the current round of fighting began.
Yarmouk has been under siege for two years since it was surrounded by Syrian government forces.
Some Palestinian civilians who were trapped have managed to flee to safer areas, but the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syria's government air force has dropped several barrel bombs on the camp since Sunday.
Palestinian officials and Syrian activists said they were working with rivals from the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front.
The two groups have fought bloody battles against each other in other parts of Syria, but appear to be cooperating in the attack on Yarmouk.
Only around 2,000 civilians have been able to leave the camp so far.
Sky's Middle East Correspondent Sherine Tadros said: "Yarmouk is about 10km from the centre of Damascus and IS militants are reportedly in control of most of the camp.
"It's a dire situation and desperate for those people waiting for UN aid but it simply can't get in there because of the fighting.
"We've been told that more than 20 people have been killed since this latest fighting began and several instances where women have been kidnapped by IS militants."
Mr Gunness has called for a "political framework" to solve the crisis and allow aid to be delivered on the ground.
"We need a political framework which will give some kind of meaning and substance to this humanitarian work. So, we need political action and we need it urgently."
Meanwhile, Iraqi forensic teams in the Sunni city of Tikrit, recently recaptured from IS forces, have begun excavating 12 suspected mass grave sites.
The graves are thought to hold the bodies of up to 1,700 soldiers killed last June as Islamic State fighters fought to capture large areas of northern Iraq.
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