Food rations have run out in besieged Aleppo

Aid workers in the besieged eastern portion of Aleppo, Syria, handed out their final food rations Thursday, the United Nations says. Now, tens of thousands of people will go hungry unless a new aid arrangement can be made.

"I do believe we will be able to avert mass hunger this winter," U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said in Geneva. "I don't think anybody wants a quarter of a million people to be starving in east Aleppo."

Though there is some food available for purchase in the once-thriving city, prices have skyrocketed as rebel occupation and regime-loyal bombardments last for months on end. Some families have been without food aid for several weeks already, and medical care is extremely limited as well. Russia has promised to continue scheduling pauses in its airstrikes so that humanitarian efforts have time to proceed.

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