A leading United Nations official has called for the facilitation of aid access to rebel-held areas in Syria’s northwest, warning that relief stocks will soon be depleted.
Rebel-held areas near Turkey’s border cannot receive aid from government-held parts of Syria without Damascus’s authorization. “Put politics aside and let us do our humanitarian work,” the UN’s resident Syria coordinator El-Mostafa Benlamlih said, warning, “We can’t afford to wait and negotiate. By the time we negotiate, it’s done, it’s finished.”
WHO sending medics and supplies to the earthquake zone
The World Health Organisation is flying medical personnel and supplies to Turkey and Syria after Monday’s devastating earthquakes. It will send a high-level delegation to coordinate its response as well as three flights with medical supplies, one of which is already on its way to Istanbul, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing.“The health needs are tremendous,” said Dr. Iman Shankiti, the WHO representative for Syria.
Turkey-Syria quake updates: No aid in NW Syria yet, say rescuers
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Turkey-Syria earthquakes on Wednesday, February 8: The death toll from the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday has risen to more than 12,000.
At least 9,057 people have died in Turkey, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. At least 2,992 have been killed in Syria.
Erdogan traveled to some of the most affected areas. On Tuesday, he announced a three-month state of emergency across 10 provinces, while aid agencies grapple with the complicated logistics of sending emergency assistance to war-hit Syria.
The group leading efforts to rescue people buried under rubble in rebel-held areas of Syria, the Syrian Civil Defence, says it has not received any aid so far.
More than 12,000 Turkish search-and-rescue personnel are working in the affected areas, along with 9,000 troops. More than 70 countries have offered rescue teams and other aid.
Quake death toll in northwest Syria crosses 1,730
The death toll in northwest Syria has risen to at least 1,730, the Syrian Civil Defence said in a post on Twitter, adding that more than 2,850 others were injured. The number is likely to rise significantly due to the presence of hundreds of families under the rubble of destroyed buildings,” said the rescue group, also known as the White Helmets.
“Our teams continue rescue operations amid difficult circumstances,” it added.
After fleeing war in Gaza, an entire Palestinian family dies in quakes in Turkey
Twelve years ago, Abdel-Karim Abu Jalhoum fled war and poverty in the Gaza Strip for safety in Turkey. On Monday, the earthquakes that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria killed him and his entire family. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Abu Jalhoum; his wife, Fatima; and their four children were among 70 Palestinians who had been found dead.“My brother went to Turkey to seek a better life away from wars and blockades here in Gaza,” said Abu Jalhoum’s brother Ramzy, 43, as relatives and neighbors trickled into the family’s house in the town of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip to pay their respects. “We lost the family. An entire family has wiped off the civil registration record,”
he said. Source:aljazzera.com
Friday, May 1, 2026
