A wounded Syrian boy receives treatment at a make-shift hospital in Kafr Batna in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus following Syrian government bombardments on February 21, 2018 AFP
Egypt expressed on Wednesday its concern over the humanitarian situation in eastern Ghouta city in Syria, calling for a truce to allow the entry of aid and the evacuation of the injured and sick to avoid a "humanitarian catastrophe."
According to the UN, nearly 400,000 people in eastern Ghouta have been subjected to extreme living conditions due to airstrikes, shelling and a siege by Syrian government forces in the past few days.
"Egypt denounces any shelling of civilian areas in Ghouta and Damascus, as well in the rest of Syria," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that Egypt is communicating with the concerned parties in Syria to end the crisis in Ghouta.
UN agencies and human rights organisations have said that over 100 people have been killed since Monday, including at least 13 children.
The ministry’s statement reiterated Egypt’s position that a ceasefire should be reached and talks should take place in Syria to end the country’s seven-year conflict in a way that preserves the nation’s unity and the Syrian state, while meeting the Syrian people's aspiration for peace and stability.
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