Fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants for control of Mosul has driven many people from their homes. Many displaced residents are having to wait days to reach camps with only limited access to food, water and shelter.

While Iraqi Special Forces battle ISIL inside Mosul’s east a variety of forces are approaching the city from all other directions. This is the northern front and like the eastern front there is a rising number of displaced residents, but unlike that front there is no easy access to the camps or humanitarian aid. Instead assistance is trucked in.

"The Duhok government has distributed food aid to the recently freed lands. This assistance includes food packages for this area as well as to others," Manar Mohammad Foad Al-Naqshabandi with Joint Crisis Coordination Center, Duhok Branch, said.

The local government is doing it’s best to help, but there’s not enough and the queue is still long when the truck leaves. There is a voucher system, but it’s chaotic and again too little for too many.

A few of these people who still possess vehicles are managing to drive out, but most of these people remain in limbo. They are no longer under the control of ISIL, but there’s no infrastructure or vehicles that can get them to the camps that are too far away to walk so for now they are stuck here.

It’s a desperate situation for people who have already suffered so much.

"We fled from Bawizza. ISIL wanted to take us to Mosul but we didn’t go with them. We stayed and hid in a garage for three days. The Iraqi army finally came and freed us. They moved us to here and there is a lack of food, water and a place to sleep. We demand from whoever is in charge... the government or the UN... to move us to the camps," Fathi Yousif, displaced Iraqi from Bawizza, said.

People here say they are waiting on average three days with little sustenance or shelter before they can reach the camps. The numbers are still small, but the battle for Mosul’s north is still to come and expected soon.