"In this war, time is working against the children. Without massive help in bringing in water, medical and food supplies, many children and pregnant women will not survive this conflict," said UNICEF Iraq operations head Carel de Rooy.

De Rooy said the main problem was getting water to civilians in places where there was heavy fighting, like the southern city of Basra where he said more than 1.2 million people had been without drinking water for more than a week.

He said that 100,000 children under the age of five were in severe danger of falling ill, and that drinking dirty water has been the top killer of children in Iraq over the last year.

UNICEF also warned that as many as 500,000 Iraqi children could be in need of psychological help as a result of trauma suffered during the war.

SPACE.WIRE