The UN is sounding the alarm over the “desperate” plight of civilians trapped amid fierce fighting in the largely Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus.

The camp is now almost entirely in the hands of the self-proclaimed Islamic State after it launched an attack on rival insurgents last the week.

An official from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), Anouar Abdel Hadi, told the AFP news agency that some 400 families – around 2,000 people – had been evacuated from the camp on Sunday.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said that 94 people – 43 women and 20 children – had been moved out to receive humanitarian support , as it issued a forceful appeal to all armed parties to cease hostilities.

Its statement said never had civilian lives been more profoundly threatened: “Men, women and children – Syrians and Palestinians alike – are cowering in their battered homes in profound fear, desperate for security, food and water, deeply concerned by th