UN seeks access to Palestinians in Syria after Hunger deaths

The United Nations appealed Monday for the Syrian army and rebel fighters to allow urgent aid to reach a besieged Palestinian district of southern Damascus where it said 15 people have died of malnutrition in recent months. U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said in Beirut that five Palestinian refugees died over the weekend in Yarmouk, a rebel-held district surrounded by Syrian government forces, and ten others have died since September, the last time the U.N. agency was able to deliver aid there. “The situation has progressively deteriorated for some 20,000 Palestinians trapped inside Yarmouk,” Gunness said. “If this situation is not addressed urgently, it may be too late to save the lives of thousands of people, including children.” “We urgently ask all parties to immediately heed their legal obligations and facilitate the urgent provision of humanitarian assistance to Yarmouk and other Palestinian refugee camps where fighting impedes the delivery of such assistance,” the UNRWA spokesman said. Syria is home to 500,000 Palestinians, refugees of the 1948 conflict.