UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations on Monday urged a 48-hour humanitarian cease-fire in Aleppo, Syria, where hundreds of thousands of residents remain trapped due to ongoing fighting.

''I cannot stress enough how critical the situation is'' in east of Aleppo, Stephen O'Brien, the UN humanitarian chief, told the Security Council.

Aid workers need to be given access to the city to tend to the sick and those in need, he said, facilitating a need for a suspension of hostilities and a temporary lift of sieges.

Britain's UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the council that his country supported the call for a cease-fire, stressing that the east of Aleppo is entirely encircled by regime forces, trapping 300,000 residents.

''We cannot hide away behind closed doors; we cannot stay silent in the face of such barbarism … hundreds of civilians are being killed and injured in attacks from the air and ground ... hundreds of thousands more are now suffering in an ever expanding humanitarian crisis,'' he said.

Rycroft said he received a letter earlier in the day from a doctor at Aleppo Children's Hospital that said, “if nothing is done, we are surely facing death”.

Syria has been wrecked by a five-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, leaving the country in ruins that will likely take generations to rebuild.