UN Humanitarian Affairs Chief, Valerie Amos, has said that Syrians living in besieged areas has doubled during the last month, standing at 440,000 after government-controlled areas were seized by Islamic State forces.
“Previously, 212,000 people were living under siege, including 185,000 people besieged by the Syrian government,’’ she said.
Amos told the UN Security Council on Friday in New York that the militant group had taken control of Deir ez-Zor, cutting off an additional 228,000 people from humanitarian aid.
“People trapped in besieged locations are becoming more and more desperate. We must be allowed to deliver essential humanitarian items, time is running out, if not more people will die,’’ she said.
Amos said there was a huge gap in humanitarian funding and encouraged governments to give generously during donor conference planned for Tuesday in Kuwait.
She said the conflict, which escalated from pro-reform demonstrations more than four years ago, has internally displaced 7.6 million people, while 3.9 million Syrians have fled the country.
It is estimated that death toll from the Syrian crisis has exceeded 220,000.
