"It is the first time the trucking operation we have been using in southern Iraq will have reached those in need," the statement said.

Each truck in the convoy is carrying 35,000 litres of clean water, as well as emergency health kits to meet the needs of 1,000 people for three months, the statement said.

UNICEF meanwhile reported that the heat engulfing southern Iraq "is already taking a toll on children" in the town of Zubair, which was visited Tuesday by aid workers who plan to return there on Thursday with water and emergency kits.

Local health workers in Zubair told the UNICEF that the town hospital was running out of basic supplies and gave aid agency drivers a list of more than 50 medicines they need, the statement said.

UNICEF also urged coalition forces to ensure that the "humanitarian daily rations being handed out in southern Iraq" are wrapped in other colours than bright yellow, which is "identical to the colour of a bomblet being air-dropped".

Meanwhile UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler told a daily newsbriefing in Amman that a "handful of Iraqis" have made their way out of their embattled country in recent days along with a small number of third-country nationals.

"All these people arrive frightened and exhausted and usually intend to move onwards, as was the case with one couple of elderly Iraqis who recently arrived at Jordan's Al Karamah border," Kessler said.

"As the war progresses, the humanitarian situation in Iraq and respect for human rights will deteriorate further," warned the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

"Everything possible must be done to spare civilians the trauma of new displacement," he added.

SPACE.WIRE