The United Nations says the last available food rations have been handed out in the northern city of Aleppo, where a quarter of a million people are besieged by Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes.
The head of a UN-backed humanitarian task force for Syria, Jan Egeland, told journalists on November 10 that there will be no food to distribute in the rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo next week without a resupply.
UN aid convoys have not reached eastern Aleppo since July, when government forces cut off the last supply route.
"The reports we have now from within East Aleppo is that the last food rations are being distributed as we speak," Egeland said in Geneva. "It is a horrendous situation."
Egeland said he was hopeful of reaching a deal with the Syrian government and rebel groups that would permit the delivery of food and medical supplies and allow medical evacuations and access for health workers.
"I do believe we will be able to avert mass hunger this winter," he added.