Hamas warns of grave conditions of Palestinian refugees in Syria

Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas warned on Sunday against the grave conditions of Palestinian refugees in Syria, saying it was monitoring developments with "pain and sorrow" the suffering of Palestinians in the troubled Arab country. In a statement, Hamas said Palestinian refugee camps in Syria were subjected to blockade and bombardment, causing displacement and escape from what it described "inhumane" conditions which in some cases caused death. Hamas also said the "tragic" conditions of the Palestinian refugees forced them to escape the country by boats. Many of them recently drowned after their boats sank in the Mediterranean. Most of the refugees suffering from these conditions were women, children, patients, and seniors, said Hamas, stressing importance on protecting them and provide them with safe environment. Last night, rescuers plucked 200 refugees from the sea after their boat capsized, killing 34 in yet another migrant tragedy that prompted Malta to warn the Mediterranean was turning into a cemetery. Their boat went down off Malta on Friday near the Italian island of Lampedusa, packed with 230-250 men, women and children, the Maltese navy said. Exhausted after a 10-hour journey from the wreck site, about 143 survivors arrived in Valetta morning aboard a Maltese naval vessel. They were helped onto buses to be driven to shelters. Among the 146 survivors questioned by the Maltese authorities so far, 117 said they were from war-torn Syria and 27 from the Palestinian refugee camps. Last week, near Italy's Lampedusa, 311 bodies were recovered from the sea following another boat sinking tragedy