A picture showing thousands of people queuing for food has revealed the shocking deprivation in a besieged part of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The scene of thousands of trapped people standing among the shells of blast-blackened buildings and mounds of rubble in the district of Yarmouk was yesterday described as "apocalyptic" by UN officials there on a rare visit.
Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, said he was left "shaken and deeply disturbed" by what he saw when the distribution of humanitarian aid resumed on Monday morning.
UN officials have called for the lifting of the siege of Yarmouk - a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood whose people have been trapped for almost a year - to allow aid workers to deliver much-needed food and medicine.
UN relief agency spokesman Chris Gunnes called on both the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels to allow "safe and unhindered humanitarian access" to Yarmouk, scene of some of the worst fighting in the capital, leading to severe food shortages.
The photograph - taken last month but released only yesterday by the UN - shows thousands of the 160000 residents of the war-ravaged district. They are in desperate need of food, water and medicines.
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