A toddler is held up to the camera in this still image taken from video said to be shot in Madaya on Tuesday.
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Disturbing images of emaciated people, including children, may have been a factor for the Syrian government’s decision Thursday to allow food and medicine into a portion of rebel-controlled territory, as the country’s civil war stretches into its fifth year.
Last month, 23 people, including six children, died of starvation in Madaya, according to a report by the town’s health committee.
Meanwhile, the White House described the ongoing situation in Syria as “gut-wrenching” while conceding that it is “difficult” to get humanitarian aid into the war-torn country. Desperate people who try to flee have been injured or killed by bullets or by land mines planted around the town, he added.
Humanitarian assistance will be delivered to Madaya and two other cities, Fu’a and Kefraya, but no firm date had been set.
This undated photo posted on the Local Revolutionary Council in Madaya, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows a starving boy in Madaya, Syria.
Khalil, speaking from Madaya, said that he had “lost hope” of aid arriving. “There is nothing left but salt and water”.
“The UN has received credible reports of people dying from starvation and being killed while trying to leave”, said a report issued this week.
While pro-regime forces have restricted access to Madaya, in northwestern Syria, Fuaa and Kafraya are surrounded by anti-government fighters.
Yesterday UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria Yacoub El Hillo and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Kevin Kennedy issued a joint statement calling for unimpeded access to people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, with only 10 per cent of all requests for UN inter-agency convoys to these areas approved and delivered in the past year.
They also told him that before negotiations, Assad’s government, which has military support from Russian Federation and Iran, must halt the bombardment of civilian areas and barrel bombing, and release detainees in line with the resolution.
Abu Khalil is one of those trapped in Madaya. The UN says 42,000 people are stuck there.
Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, is a rebel stronghold.
” ‘People are dying in slow motion, ‘ said Louay, a social worker from the town told the Guardian in a phone interview, his voice weakened by months of abject hunger”.
Hezbollah denied the allegations, saying that rebels were preventing residents from leaving.
Living conditions in the town of Madaya further deteriorated as winter set in.
An agreement has been reached to hopefully bring aid to Madaya, Foua, and Kefraya in the coming days.
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A mother feeds her child what looks like broth, but is actually water flavored with jam.
