Vital aid operations supporting millions of people affected by the conflict in Iraq risk closure unless funds are made available immediately, the official overseeing humanitarian operations in the country said on Thursday.

With escalating conflict, the United Nations and its NGO partners are asking donors for US$ 497 million to cover the cost of providing shelter, food, water and other life-saving services over the coming six months.

The appeal will target communities across broad swathes of the country displaced or affected by the violence between government forces and Daesh.

Speaking at the appeal launch at the European Parliament in Brussels, the United Nation’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Ms. Lise Grande said the aid operation was hanging by a thread. “The crisis in Iraq is one of the most complex and volatile anywhere in the world,” she said.

“Humanitarian partners have been doing everything they can to help. But more than 50 per cent of the operation will be shut down or cut back if money is not received immediately.”

The implications of this, Ms. Grande added, would be “catastrophic.”

The humanitarian needs in Iraq are huge and growing. More than 8 million people require immediate life-saving support, a number that could reach 10 million by the end of 2015.

Violence has already forced nearly 3 million people from their homes, leaving them scattered in more than 3,000 locations across the country. Human rights and rule of law are under constant assault as sectarian tensions sharpen.