Otaybah, Eastern Ghouta, Syria after an airstrike on February 25, 2018 (Photo: AFP/VNA)

UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said more time is needed to allow aid deliveries to enter and civilians and urgent medical cases to leave. He criticized diplomats from 23 states attending a weekly meeting in Geneva for not supporting UN staff in helping Syrian civilians. Some 400,000 people trapped in government-besieged eastern Ghouta need life-saving aid, and the only convoy allowed so far this year was a small one in mid-February with aid for just 7,200 people, Egeland said. He demanded a two-way humanitarian corridor with several convoys each week into eastern Ghouta, and said 1,000 priority medical cases must be evacuated for treatment.

The daily 5-hour truce for evacuations from eastern Ghouta appears to be a failure as airstrikes and shelling have continued in the region.