Syrian refugees walk by the sea moments after arriving in Greece.
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Stranded in filthy conditions at a muddy tent city near the northern border town of Idomeni, at least 12,000 people, among them thousands of children, were waiting to cross the frontier although Macedonia and other nations along the so-called Western Balkan route have closed their borders.
The woman leans out of her tent – with two other children huddled behind her – and bathes the naked infant’s head with a bottle of shower cream.
Tensions are flaring in the Idomeni camp where there have reportedly been fights among refugees as supplies and food were distributed out.
The image reveals the horrific conditions facing the 14,000 displaced in the camp close to the village of Idomeni near the border with Macedonia.
After Macedonian authorities severely restricted its borders with Greece, allowing in only a few hundred per day and blocking most nationalities or those without passports, a massive buildup began in the makeshift Idomeni camp.
“Greece will offer you accommodation, food and healthcare”, read the leaflets which were written in Arabic, Farsi and Pashtun.
“We have to persuade them (to move) and we can’t do that using tear gas”.
Announcing that the time had come to focus on the smuggling rings behind the illicit flows, the deputy defence minister Dimitris Vitsa, who is coordinating the Greek government’s response to the crisis, told Star TV: “We have to turn our eyes to traffickers [in Turkey] … because it is they who are selling false hope to people”.
Long lines formed for sandwiches, tea and soup at the Idomeni camp, which long ago surpassed its capacity.
Despite the contours of an agreement being reached with Turkey at an emergency European Union summit to stem the flows on Monday, increasing numbers of migrants and refugees are continuing to make the often perilous journey to Greece’s Aegean isles.
The girl was being treated in a stable condition, the agency said, adding that it had already taken action to prevent spreading of the disease across the migrants in Idomeni.
To ensure water quality, seven water transportation vehicles, three deployed by the Greek army, started operating in Idomeni, the government said in an announcement late on Saturday.
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There are an estimated 42,000 desperate migrants – thousands of them refugees fleeing civil war and brutality in Syria – stuck in Greece.
