(CNN) The number of civilians fleeing western Mosul in recent weeks has topped 57,000, an Iraqi official said Sunday.
Iraqis have been leaving in large numbers since last month's start of the military operation to take back the western part of the city from ISIS.
Their ranks rose by more than 10,000 in the past two days, the government said.
Fearful residents flee western Mosul
A woman from western Mosul carries her child and the few possessions she could gather before escaping the city. By Saturday, the Iraqi government estimated that nearly 50,000 people had fled western Mosul to government-controlled territory. Most ended up in refugee camps hastily set up by the government and local and international relief groups.
An Iraqi man carries his daughter, wounded by a mortar round that slammed into their home in the Ma'moun neighborhood of Mosul. Many of those fleeing were said to have been held as human shields by ISIS fighters while their neighborhoods became battlefields.
An Iraqi security officer talks to hundreds of detained men and boys who fled western Mosul. The group gathered at a processing facility south of Mosul before being transferred to nearby refugee camps.
A young Iraqi boy smiles as he sits on a bus before being transported with his mother and other civilians fleeing western Mosul to a nearby refugee camp.
Two Iraqi women arrive with their children and a few possessions at a reception point for internally displaced people south of Mosul.
Iraqi civilians flee Mosul as the fight to rid the city of ISIS fighters continues.
A young Iraqi boy carries a bag on his back as he walks in the rain to a civilian processing station south of Mosul. Some civilians have made the dangerous escape on foot from western Mosul.
An Iraqi child eats his first hot meal in 10 days at an Iraqi military reception point for internally displaced people south of Mosul.
Also last week, 12 Mosul residents, inlcuding five children, were treated for injuries from a suspected chemical attack, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Civilians killed by landmines
The Iraqi government is providing relief and food. It can handle another 100,000 displaced people from western Mosul at refugee camps, Minister of Migration and Displacement Jassem Mohammad al-Jaff said Sunday.
On Friday, ministry figures showed 46,000 people had left since the fighting began February 19.
Since Mosul's capture by ISIS fighters in June 2014, Mosul has been a vital stronghold for ISIS.
The largest city under the terror group's control in Iraq and Syria, it was the city from which the group first declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate
CNN's Kareem Khadder contributed to this report from Irbil, Iraq.