UN Emergency relief official calls for weekly 48-hour truce in Aleppo

NEW YORK, July 25 (KUNA) -- UN Emergency Relief official called on the Security Council Monday to impose a weekly 48-hour humanitarian pause for eastern Aleppo, Syria, stressing the criticality of those trapped in the the city.
Before the Security Council this morning, the Undersecretary General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien said that he is deeply alarmed by the disturbing developments in and around Aleppo city.
He affirmed that since July 7, civilian, humanitarian and commercial movements in and out of eastern Aleppo city have come to a halt.
In his speech, the UN official said highest priority is to ensure access through both cross-line or cross-borer operations under Security Council's existing resolutions, in order to "replenish stocks and ensure people's access to the basic necessities of life." O'Brien told the Japanese-led Council that an urgent medical evacuation must also be immediately available, confirming the current "tit-for-tat" arrangement which has led children dying in one of the towns-because there is no equally sick child in another location to evacuate at exactly the same time - should be a shameful blot on the conscience of the parties and those who support them. Therefore, he called on all parties to allow the sick and wounded to exit besieged areas to get the medical care they need to survive and put an end to the "tit-for-tat" approach.
"Medical evacuation are not a question of politics or military advantage, but of basic humanity," he added.
O'Brien told the 15-member body, although approvals are granted, the permits given by the Syrian government centrally do not always translate down to their security forces. In particular, the UN official affirmed that despite repeated calls for the free passage of all medicines and surgical equipments in aid convoys, from the Security Council and other, medical and surgical items continue to be excluded or removed.
In the same meeting, both Britain and France echoed the call of 48-hour truce in Aleppo.
France noted the cessation of hostilities agreement to be a "smokescreen foot the Syrian regime and its allies to cover their military strategy." Hundreds of mortars, missiles and projectiles were launched on both eastern and western Aleppo in past weeks, resulting in scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries.
According to the latest numbers revealed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), across Syria around 5.5 million people are in need in hard-to-reach and besieged areas with little and physical protection and limited access to basic life-saving assistance. Of that number, some 590,000 people remain totally trapped in besieged areas. (end) mao.bs