November 30 - The Iraqi Red Crescent has set up a relief center in the shattered city of Fallujah, but continued clashes between U.S. occupation forces and Iraqi fighters prevent doctors and nurses from treating the wounded, the international Red Cross said on Monday.

The Red Crescent found that Fallujah is still under siege, three weeks after U.S. troops launched their bloody assault on the city, said International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokeswoman, Rana Sidani.

Sidani also said that "there are many civilians who are still trapped in the city and don't dare to come to the Red Crescent office."

At least 110 Iraqi civilians -- including some with chronic diseases and fever -- are now being sheltered in the center, but Red Crescent workers have not yet found the wounded people, Sidani added.

The Red Crescent, the first independent relief agency that entered Fallujah last week, said that it found a mostly abandoned city.

"Maybe the injured cannot have access to the center," Sidani said, adding that the "doctors' and nurses' access inside the city is restricted because of the fighting."

Sidani noted that the Fallujah General Hospital, which is across the Euphrates River, also had not received any injured people.

She added that "there is a shortage of drinking water" in the city.

"The water station is not working because there is nonstop fighting around it. There are no employees in the station.

"Even if there were someone to operate the water station, we're not sure the water can arrive to the homes" because the water distribution system might have been destroyed, she said.

Sidani also said that Red Crescent workers are cooking hot meals for the civilians, who were deprived of fresh food for about a month.

The agency can not enter deep inside Fallujah because it is not able to get minimum security guarantees form the fighting parties, she added.

She also said that the Red Cross is sheltering people who escaped the city during the deadly offensive and are now living outside the city. She added that those people have enough food for now, but were suffering from skin diseases due to water shortage and improper hygiene.

The ICRC is assigned by the Geneva Conventions to look after the wounded and war victims.