DAMASCUS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Representatives in Syria called for a month-long immediate cessation of hostilities to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid and evacuation of the critically sick and wounded, said a statement on Tuesday.
In a statement sent to Xinhua, the United Nations humanitarian team in Syria warned of the dire consequences of the compounded humanitarian crisis in several parts of the country.
The statement mentioned the situation in the Afrin enclave in northern Syria, where the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebel fighters have unleashed an offensive against the Kurdish fighters in that Kurdish-controlled enclave in northern Syria.
The UN said as many as 380 families have so far reached surrounding villages and Aleppo city neighborhoods while thousands of people have been displaced within Afrin.
As the fighting escalates, the number of civilians affected by violence is bound to increase, it added.
The statement also mentioned the situation in Hasakah province in northern Syria and the city of Raqqa, where the people have been suffering from the lack of services and unsafe conditions.
It also mentioned the situation in the Rukban camp in southern Syria near Jordan, as civilians remains inaccessible to the humanitarian team in Syria.
It said the last time the camp was supplied with food and non-food items was from across the border in early January, adding that regular and sustained access to the camp population is critical to meet urgent needs that cannot be addressed with sporadic deliveries.
In the Islamic State-held areas in the Yarmouk Camp and other locations in Syria, civilians continue to be held captive, subjected to violence and coercion, the statement said.
In the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region east of Damascus, humanitarian needs are increasing and life-saving aid is urgently required, but people in need have not been reached since late November 2017.
Meanwhile, fighting and retaliatory shelling from all parties are impacting civilians in Eastern Ghouta and Damascus causing scores of deaths and injuries, it added.
It stressed that If there was a sufficiently long pause in hostilities, medical evacuations and humanitarian convoys could resume in Eastern Ghouta, saving the lives of hundreds who need urgent medical attention, including many critically ill children.
