Senior UN officials call for end to bombing in north Syria

Senior UN officials on Thursday called for an end to bombing in north Syria in order to protect civilians in the war-torn region, saying that some 320 civilians were killed and 765 others injured in eastern Aleppo in the first days of the offensive.

The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O'Brien, told the UN Security Council that the past seven days have seen an intensification of attacks across Syria.

From airstrikes in Deir Ezzour, to airstrikes and ground attacks in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Idleb and Rural Damascus and other governorates, fighting has intensified despite a one-week lull when the cessation of hostilities was reinstated, albeit with violations on all sides.

O'Brien, who is also UN emergency relief coordinator, said that nowhere has the fighting been more intense in the last days than in besieged east Aleppo, where estimates are that some 320 civilians were killed and 765 injured in the first days of the offensive.

Also on Thursday, Ramzy Ezzeldine Ramzy, the deputy special envoy for Syria, spoke to reporters in Geneva and reiterated the need for the bombing in Aleppo to stop and for the cessation of hostilities to be restored.

He said that many hospitals in Aleppo have been damaged by air strikes, and medical supplies are dwindling. It is estimated that many of the 600 wounded cannot be provided with adequate treatment.

And just on Wednesday, two of the remaining eight hospitals in eastern Aleppo were reportedly hit by shelling, taking them out of service, Ramzy said.

It is clear, he said, that medical evacuations of the most severely wounded are urgently needed. Ramzy added that food stocks are also running out. Many bakeries are remaining closed, and only 14,000 rations remain in Eastern Aleppo, enough for only a quarter of the population.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Anthony Lake, the executive director of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), said that in Aleppo, 96 children were killed and 223 injured in merciless attacks this week alone.

Doctors were forced to let some children die while saving others with scarce medical supplies, he said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) strongly condemned the parties responsible for the shelling of one of its schools in Khan Eshieh in Syria.

On Wednesday, the Salameh Girls Preparatory School took a direct hit that resulted in one eighth grade student being injured, as well as two teachers, one of whom was seriously wounded. Enditem