SYRIAN Kurds are preparing a case for war crimes against the Turkish state, including the use of chemical weapons, as they warned of an impending genocide.

As Turkish television showed a sickening “countdown clock” to mark the end of the ceasefire, those on the ground feared a massacre at the hands of jihadist mercenaries.

In an emergency statement torday Heyva Sor, the Kurdish Red Crescent, said the people of northern Syria had “lost faith in the international community.”

It has led relief efforts on the ground, with health workers coming under fire from jihadist forces and Turkish airstrikes, despite a so-called ceasefire agreement.

A statement said that “at least one million people will have to leave their homes” if Turkey attacks the whole of the border district as it has threatened.

Conditions inside the camps were described as “disastrous,” with no support from the international community.

“Our capacity has ended,” the group warned. “We cannot bear this responsibility any more.”

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people have been displaced to southern parts of the region but there is a serious lack of shelter, food and medicines.

More than 500,000 are without water after a Turkish airstrike on a pipeline.

Turkey has been accused of war crimes, with Kurdish officials preparing a case after evidence suggesting both napalm and white phosphorus have been used on civilians.

Tev-Dem spokeswoman Foza Yusif said that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had agreed to the ceasefire to prevent a genocide, but Turkey had not stuck to the agreement with attacks.

“The Turkish state has always preferred war,” she charged.

“White phosphorus and napalm were used by Turkey in its attacks, and executions were also carried out,” she claimed and said Syrian Kurds had prepared reports and established commissions to support the allegations.

International and mediating forces were urged to go to Sere Kaniye, on the border, and “see what is happening with their own eyes.”

“The Turkish army and the mercenaries are organised like Isis … They declared everyone an enemy, especially the Kurds, who fought against them. They burn people’s houses. They confiscated many houses and settled there,” Ms Yusif warned.

“Genocide and ethnic cleansing began after the SDF forces withdrew.”

Kurdish activists demonstrated outside the Hague yesterday.

They presented a dossier of documents and photographs to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), asking it to investigate claims that white phosphorus had been used.

The activists questioned the Turkish government’s €30,000 (£25,8000) donation to a special OPCW trust fund on October 17, calling it a “bribe.”