An aid agency is warning that the lives of more than 1 million civilians trapped inside the Islamic State-held Mosul "are in grave danger" as Iraqi troops advance and set foot inside the city where fighting is expected to intensify.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, says that around 18,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since the start of the massive military operation to retake Mosul over two weeks ago.
The council's Iraq chief, Wolfgang Gressmann, says the agency's aid workers "are now bracing ... for the worst. The lives of 1.2 million civilians are in grave danger, and the future of all of Iraq is now in the balance."
In their battle for Mosul, Iraqi forces for the first time in two years on Tuesday entered the eastern Gogjali and Karama neighborhoods inside Mosul's city limits.
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