The UN is hopeful, however, that catastrophe can be averted. “I don’t think anybody wants a quarter of a million people to be starving in east Aleppo,” UN humanitarian advisor Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva, detailing his agency’s plan.
The UN sent a four-part humanitarian proposal to all parties in the conflict several days ago, addressing delivery of food and medical supplies, access to the city for health workers, and medical evacuations.
Some families have not received food aid for several weeks and the prices of food in the rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods are skyrocketing, Egeland said.
Russia has organized occasional, temporary “humanitarian pauses” lasting a few hours to allow the delivery of aid and evacuations from eastern Aleppo. The Russian military will continue to arrange these ceasefires Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted saying on Thursday by Interfax news agency.
For the people living in eastern Aleppo, finding safety, whether in or out of Aleppo, is their priority. Forty-four percent of the population would leave if a secure route out became available, the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, found in a survey conducted in late October. While 40 percent wanted to stay.
“Those who wish to leave expressed concern for their safety and lack of food due to the siege,” the UNHCR stated in a report on their findings published Wednesday. “Those who wish to stay either didn’t know of any safe place to go, wanted to remain with family members, couldn’t afford the cost of moving, or feared they would not be able to return to their homes.”
In the month of October, the UNHCR was able to deliver aid to 285,500 people in besieged and hard to reach areas, amounting to nearly 30 percent of the people that had requested to reach in the month of October, the agency reported.
“No inter-agency cross-line convoys were able to deliver aid so far in November.”
