UNICEF, 28 September 2016 – Children in Aleppo are trapped in a “living nightmare,” a senior official of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, stressing yet again, the direness of the situation, particularly for the children, in Syria’s war-ravaged Aleppo.
“The children of Aleppo are trapped in a living nightmare,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth in a news release issued by the UN agency today.
Syrians react as the bodies of children are pulled from the rubble of a building following airstrikes in a rebel-held neighbourhood of Aleppo on Tuesday
“There are no words left to describe the suffering they are experiencing,” he added.
According to UNICEF, At least 96 children have been killed and 223 have been injured in eastern Aleppo since Friday.
The UN agency further said that the health system in eastern Aleppo is “crumbling” with just 30 or so doctors left, hardly any equipment or emergency medicine to treat the injured, and an ever increasing number of trauma cases.
The UN agency added that according to doctors on the ground, children with low chances of survival are too often left to die due to limited capacity and supplies.
United Nations News Centre – UN envoy urges all sides to quickly agree truce to ease suffering in Aleppo
“Nothing can justify such assaults on children and such total disregard for human life. The suffering – and the shock among children – is definitely the worst we have seen,” underscored Mr. Forsyth in the statement.
Earlier this week, speaking at an emergency session of the Security Council, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura strongly appealed to the Council’s membership – particularly permanent members Russia and the United States – to rescue the recently collapsed cessation of hostilities, help end the bloodshed and enable urgent aid into the iconic city, where, overall, some two million people remain trapped under a de facto siege.
Further, during the UN General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, many world leaders drew attention to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and urged all parties to the conflict to urgently pursue a political solution to the conflict.
