Deliveries of food, medical supplies and blankets to three towns in Syria where residents say they are starving to death will begin by Sunday or Monday, a Red Cross official has said.
The official called for humanitarian organisations to be granted unimpeded access to all areas under siege in Syria, saying one-off aid deliveries were not enough to prevent civilians from starving.
“We were granted access yesterday [Thursday] but the operation won’t happen before Sunday or Monday,” said Pawel Krzysiek, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesman in Syria. “We are sorting out a few details.”
“This time it’s a bigger drop,” he said. “The ICRC is bringing food, medicines, and non-food goods, such as blankets and hygiene kits. It will go to Madaya and at the same time to Fua and Kefraya.”
The last aid delivery to the three towns, which are under siege by pro-government and opposition forces, took place in October.
“What we have seen and heard in Zabadani, Madaya, Fua and Kefraya during our visit in October was that people were hungry and there was not enough food,” Krzysiek said.
“We must be granted unimpeded access to all besieged areas on a regular basis as the one-time drops will never be enough considering the desperate situation of people who have been cut off from essential supplies for months.”
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