“UNICEF staff are working with our partners to verify the numberof casualties, including children killed and injured in the attacks”, spokesman Kieran Dwyer said. The dead included patients.
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“The people are not besieged by weather, they’re besieged by human beings that are fighting a awful war”, he said, “and therefore the cessation of hostilities is crucial”.
The previous death toll was 11.
People gather around the rubble of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) near Maaret al-Numan, in Syria’s northern province of Idlib, on February 15, 2016, after the building was hit by suspected Russian airstrikes.
Syria’s United Nations ambassador on Tuesday accused the Nobel Peace Prize-winning medical aid organization of being a branch of French intelligence. “But the Syrian regime should have allowed this access long ago”.
Muhannad al-Asadi of SARC also told the Syrian agency that that a mobile clinic entered Madaya on Wednesday.
“It’s unacceptable that such a country exists in this day and age”, he added.
Those pushing for a no-fly zone want to create a haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians and help stem the flow of refugees to Europe. “Weren’t we to act together?”
The UN hopes to provide 18 besieged areas with life-saving supplies through sustained and holistic assistance.
“People in Kafrayah and Fouah, they need diesel to switch on the water pumps-without the diesel, they can not dig for water, they need water, drinking water”, Mouhannad al Assadi, a spokesman for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, told the BBC on Wednesday.
United Nations officials are also meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to airdrop supplies in Deir ez-Zor, where hundreds of thousands of people are under siege by Islamic State.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadiy Gatilov, whose government entered the war past year in support of President Bashar al-Assad, said Wednesday the Munich accord is being implemented and would be discussed by defense officials from Russia, the USA and “key countries” on Friday.
Announcement of the aid deliveries came in conjunction with a Russian Foreign Ministry statement that the “cessation of hostilities” deal agreed in Munich last week had just entered into effect with the first stage of focus being on humanitarian relief. “Maybe it’s even wishful thinking, because if you look into the technical details of a no-fly zone like we’ve seen in Libya, it’s quite complicated”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday that Turkey would never accept the creation of a Kurdish stronghold in northern Syria, saying there was “no question” of Turkey ending its shelling.
It has long pressed for a safe zone inside Syria, backed up by a no-fly zone, and has warned Kurdish forces it will not allow them to seize Azaz, which is held by rebel forces. Until now, Turkish authorities have prevented the majority of Syrians from passing into Turkey. The United States and others have called on Turkey to hold its fire.
At a news conference, she said such an agreement would be “a sign of good will” and would put many people at ease.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday reiterated her proposal for a no-fly zone in Syria where civilians would be protected, a suggestion that was promptly rebuffed by Moscow, which said it could only be done with the Syrian government’s consent.
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Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes have advanced towards the Turkish border in a major offensive in recent weeks.
