The United Nations has issued a new warning over what it calls the “grave” conditions for internally displaced people inside Iraq. On Tuesday, Kevin Kennedy, the deputy U.N. humanitarian coordinator, said Iraq’s 1.8 million internally displaced face a new crisis as winter looms.

Kevin Kennedy: “We are confronting a very grave crisis throughout northern Iraq, and in particular meeting the needs of the 1.8 million internally displaced persons who have come about since December 2013 due to the violence and the conflict in Iraq, which continues unabated. The displaced Iraqis can be found throughout all of Iraq, but particularly in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Our fear is, unless we can provide the shelter and also the items to help people live through the winter, what is currently a very difficult and grave humanitarian challenge will transform itself into a deadly, life-threatening situation for many of the IDPs.”