The #Assad regime also rejected the delivery of 70 percent of medical supplies and removed from aid convoy, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Yesterday, the #UN and partners mission to deliver assistance to Duma in besieged eastern Ghouta was forced to be cut short due to escalating violence[...]," UN Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman (OCHA) Jens Laerke said in a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday.
Indicating that after nearly nine hours inside #Eastern_Ghouta, the decision was made to leave the town for security reasons, Laerke said: "14 of 46 trucks in the convoy were not able to fully offload critical humanitarian supplies. Of the 14, four were partially offloaded."
"Airstrikes and shelling in Douma and the shelling of Damascus continued for hours while the inter-agency convoy was delivering food for 27,500 people, in addition to health and nutrition supplies," he said.
"The team found a desperate situation for people who have endured months of lack of access to humanitarian aid. Food for civilians was in short supply or prohibitively expensive and high rates of acute malnutrition were observed," Laerke said.
Noting there was not enough time to offload all the trucks, Laerke said the convoy could enter Eastern Ghouta again on Thursday if the security situation improves.
"The UN and partners continue to be ready to deliver the second part of aid to Douma on March 8, as planned, should the conditions allow it. All security measures must be guaranteed in order for this to happen," Laerke said.
"The UN condemns, in the strongest terms possible, the lack of respect for the cessation of hostilities, and the disregard of armed parties for guarantees of safe passage for the convoy," Laerke said.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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