Shelling by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces is choking off supplies to the rebel-held city of Misrata, leaving only enough food and water for about a month.
Shipments of food, water and medical supplies arrived two to five times a week until two weeks ago, when they dropped to once a week or stopped due to sustained shelling of the city's port, Saddoun El-Misurati.
Misrata has been under siege by Gaddafi forces for about two months, and the port is its only lifeline to the outside world. The city is among the pockets of rebellion in the western part of the country that Gaddafi still controls.
The rebels have managed to dislodge snipers from the city, but say NATO strikes have failed to stop Gaddafi's forces from massing outside the city and shelling places like the port.
Five migrant workers waiting to be evacuated from a makeshift camp near the port were killed by shelling earlier this week.
El-Misurati called on NATO to step up strikes on Gaddafi forces outside the city, saying NATO needed to change its tactics to keep up with new methods deployed by them.
500 refugees saved
Earlier, Italian coast guards and local fisherman saved 500 refugees on a boat from Libya this morning after their vessel hit rocks off the island of Lampedusa.
Refugees threw themselves into the water in the night, with some clinging to ropes strung between the rusty fishing boat and the shoreline by rescuers, as officers and local residents dived in to help along the rocky coast.
Many refugees including women and children were later seen wrapped in thermal blankets on the shore.
Coast guards said local fishermen also helped rescue some of the refugees and the whole operation was lit up by beams from nearby boats.
Local residents brought food and clothes for the survivors and a Ghanaian woman with a baby called Wisdom was given diapers and toys.
Most of those on board were migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia who have been living in Libya.
Thousands of refugees fleeing Libya have been arriving in Lampedusa in recent weeks as the conflict there has escalated.
Lampedusa, which measures 20km (eight miles), is Italy's southernmost point and is closer to North Africa than to the mainland.
The boat had been headed for Malta escorted by the Maltese coast guard but then changed route and went towards Lampedusa.
A few of the refugees suffered slight injuries and have been hospitalised.
Another boat carrying 800 refugees from Libya arrived in Lampedusa, a day after two boats with 842 refugees including 101 women and 22 children also fleeing the North African state landed there.
The refugees who arrived yesterday were ferried to the mainland today, leaving around 2,500 migrants and refugees still on the island.
Lampedusa has received more than 30,000 migrant and refugee arrivals since the start of the year.
Most of them are Tunisians in search of a better life in Europe amid continued upheaval in their homeland in the wake of a revolt in January.
150 refugees fleeing Libya are believed to have died on 6 April after their boat capsized in stormy weather in the middle of the Mediterranean. Italian coast guards managed to pluck 53 survivors from the sea.
A week later, two women died and another person was reported missing after their overcrowded boat hit rocks on the Italian island of Pantelleria.
