GENEVA, April 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As Iraq hospitals are critically running low on medical supplies to cope with the myriad of wounded Iraqis, international aid agencies urged the U.S. forces in Iraq Tuesday, April 15, to provide better protection for hospitals in Iraq amid insecurity on the ground.

Aid convoys were rolling food and other supplies from Turkey through Kurdish-controlled areas into northern Iraq, but deliveries in other parts of the country were still held up by security fears, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said only three out of 10 hospitals it had surveyed in the capital Baghdad were working properly.

"We cannot say the situation is under control on the humanitarian side," ICRC spokeswoman Nada Doumani told journalists.

"There is still a lot to do, especially in the Iraqi capital where the security question is still a priority," she added.

The ICRC reiterated that the Anglo-American forces must ensure the basic needs of the population under the Geneva Convention.

"The basic needs of the population means food, water, medical care, to the fullest extent possible," Doumani elaborated.

The rest of the hospitals were suffering or out of action because they had been stripped of equipment by looters, or because doctors, nurses and patients were unable to remain there safely, especially in eastern and northern neighbourhoods.

"Some measures were taken by U.S. forces following appeals. Some hospitals have been secured, others still haven't," Doumani said.

"The situation has improved slightly in Basra, I think British forces have been ensuring the security of essential facilities," she added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said there were "mixed reports" from across Iraq, despite guards being mounted at some hospitals.

"We do have reports of several key hospitals, particularly in Baghdad, that are being protected, but no comprehensive system for protecting the entire health system," WHO spokesman Iain Simpson insisted.

Water, in effect, is regarded as the second most important issue, especially in the south and in Baghdad, according to ICRC.

About 50 to 60 percent of supplies were being restored to the capital's five million inhabitants, it said.

The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it would start to deliver water and supplies from Iran for the first time in the southern Iraqi peninsula of Al-Faw on Tuesday.

It intended to expand the deliveries from Iran further north by using stocks built up before the U.S.-led invasion in case of a mass exodus of Iraqi refugees.

However, United Nations aid agencies said they were still waiting for their own security clearance to get a full aid operation underway across southern Iraq and in Baghdad.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF were also mobilising community networks in Iraq which had been helping with aid inside the country before the invasion.

WFP said many of the 44,000 Iraqis who helped food distribution under the U.N.'s oil-for-food program were ready to get back to work.

"We have more and more contact with our employees in the field who are evaluating the situation so that we can resume public distribution (of food) during the month of May," WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said.

A convoy of 146 trucks carrying 3,000 tonnes of food was due to cross the border from Turkey heading for the northern Iraqi cities of Arbil and As-Sulaymaniya on Thursday, April 17.

About 500 trucks carrying 10,000 tonnes of food will roll into northern Iraq by the end of the week, according to WFP.

Aid agencies were preparing for more convoys from Jordan, Iran, Turkey, and Kuwait, "if all goes well, this week", Berthiaume said.