The United Nations claims nearly 40,000 people have fled fighting in Libya’s Western Mountain region over the last month. A U.N. spokesperson said some 8,000 people—mostly women and children—crossed the Libya-Tunisia border last weekend alone. The U.N.’s high commissioner for refugees says the situation for those seeking to flee Libya is rapidly deteriorating as the port city of Misurata remains cut off from humanitarian access and the Tunisian border is beset with intense fighting. Simon Brooks of the International Committee of the Red Cross said aid groups need immediate access to Misurata.

Simon Brooks: “We must have access as soon as possible. And, you know, the law of armed conflict is very clear about the access which civilian populations must have to humanitarian assistance in such circumstances, and the fact that that’s not happening is of deep concern to us.”

NATO, meanwhile, says it has been unable to clear all naval mines believed to have been laid by Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s forces off Misurata’s port. The mines have prevented aid ships from reaching Misurata. NATO Vice Admiral Rinaldo Veri said his forces are trying to remove the mines. He also refused to apologize for this weekend’s air strike that killed Gaddafi’s youngest son and three of his grandchildren.