“The humanitarian community has stressed time and time again that people must not be denied life-saving help and that the fighting has to stop,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said in a statement.

Humanitarian agencies have been denied access to Moadamiyeh for months, the statement noted. Although the evacuation of more than 3,000 people took place today, the same number or more remain trapped. There are reports of continued shelling and fighting in the area, preventing the completion of the rescue operation.

“I call on all parties to agree an immediate pause in hostilities in Moadamiyeh to allow humanitarian agencies unhindered access to evacuate the remaining civilians and deliver life-saving treatment and supplies in areas where fighting and shelling is ongoing,” said Amos, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Those already evacuated from Moadamiyeh received immediate assistance from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UN humanitarian agencies and partners, local businesses and private individuals, including food, medical treatment and psycho-social support.

Amos said she continues to be “extremely worried” by the situation unfolding across Syria where ordinary women, children and men are facing horrific violence and brutality from all sides of the conflict.

Thousands of families also remain trapped in other locations across Syria, for example in Nubil, Zahra, old Aleppo town, old Homs town and Hassakeh.“Civilians must be allowed to move to safer areas without the fear of attack,” stressed Amos.

“It is vital that all parties to the conflict respect their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian laws to protect civilians and to allow neutral, impartial humanitarian organizations safe access to all people in need, wherever they are in Syria.”

The conflict, which began in March 2011, has claimed over 100,000 lives, sent more than 2 million people fleeing for safety to neighbouring countries and displaced 4.5 million within Syria.

Mokhtar Lamani, the Damascus representative of the new UN-Arab League peace envoy to Syria, said the peacekeepers crossed into Jordan on Saturday afternoon, Reuters reported.

Yarmouk Martyrs brigade, a rebel group, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Syrian rebels initially said they would only release the hostages once Syrian troops withdrew from the area. However, rebels eventually dropped their demand and began negotiations with U.N. officials to free the peacekeepers.

On Friday, a U.N. team tried to free the hostages, but was unable due to heavy regime shelling of the area.

On Wednesday, armed elements of the Syrian opposition detained a group of peacekeepers who are part of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which monitors the 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel after their 1973 war.

The UN estimates that the Syrian conflict has claimed more than 70,000 lives and forced millions from their homes.

Israel seized the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. UN peacekeepers have been monitoring the armistice line that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, in which Syria tried to recapture the territory.

Earlier, Israel warned that it will not “stand idle” as Syria’s civil war spills over into the Golan region.

The rocket, which landed in Ashkelon, reportedly caused some damage but no injuries. It marks the first breach of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement of 21 November, which brought an end to eight days of violence in Gaza and Israel.

Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said he was “deeply troubled” by resumed indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza, which is “totally unacceptable.”

Today’s developments, according to a statement issued by Mr. Serry’s office, only underscore the importance of ongoing Egyptian efforts to solidify the truce brokered last November.

In his briefing to the Security Council, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman also underscored the “troubling” nature of today’s incident and stressed the need to inject new life in the political process aimed at reaching a two-State solution.

“We know that there are negative forces on both sides, such as those who fired today’s rocket from Gaza into Israel, who draw strength from stalemate and paralysis,” he stated, adding that both sides have a responsibility to marginalize these forces by creating the conditions, including trust, for a successful negotiating process.

“As demonstrated today in the troubling rocket attack fired from Gaza into Israel, the temperature is again rising between Israelis and Palestinians – with the situation of Palestinian prisoners the most immediate but not only cause – and there is yet no process of negotiation to offer hope on the horizon.”

The UN continues to follow the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, and had voiced concern at the news of the death on Saturday in Israeli detention of Arafat Jaradat. Yesterday, Mr. Serry called for an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Jaradat’s death, which occurred just a few days after his arrest.

Mr. Feltman described as “a most troubling development” that, earlier today, Gaza militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade cited this death in claiming responsibility for the rocket attack. The prisoner’s death has also sparked a series of demonstrations and clashes, which have reportedly resulted in the injuries of 43 Palestinians by Israeli security forces.

It is a moment of “heightened risks across multiple fronts” in the Middle East, the Under-Secretary-General pointed out, noting that Syria continues to be a source of “extreme concern” for the world body.

The nearly-two-year-old conflict has left over 4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including 2 million internally displaced, and led more than 900,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries, including over 150,000 this month alone, he stated.

“Even tentative steps to dialogue are struggling to take root,” Mr. Feltman added. “The destructive military spiral churns more forcefully each day and threatens to pull its neighbours, most notably and worrisomely Lebanon, into its vortex.

“Opportunities do exist to reverse these trends, but not if the international community sits still. Stepped up efforts by this Council and its members can make a substantial difference while there is still time to do so.”

The ceasefire fire was announced hours earlier before it took hold, after a meeting between Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“The United States welcomes the agreement today for a ceasefire. In the days ahead, the United States will work with partners in the region to consolidate this progress,” Clinton said. She indicated that the deal came at “a critical moment for the region.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr appeared with Clinton to announce that a cease-fire would begin at 19:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Mohamed Kamel Amr thanked all parties involved in brokering the truce as he made the announcement in a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

“Egypt appreciates the role of the Arab League, the valuable contributions of Turkey and Qatar, and those of the Secretary General of the United Nations to support the efforts of the Government of Egypt to end the violence. At the same time, Egypt calls upon the international community to be engaged in monitoring the implementation of the Egyptian-brokered agreement and to ensure all parties adhere to these agreements,” Amr said.

Eight days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 160 Palestinians since the army assassinated a senior Hamas military official, Ahmed Jabari, last Wednesday. Palestinian armed groups responded with rockets that killed five Israelis, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

“A short while ago, a ceasefire agreement regarding the fighting in the south, came into effect. Following eight days of operations, the IDF has accomplished its pre-determined objectives for Operation Pillar of Defense, and has inflicted severe damage to Hamas and its military capabilities,” a press release by IDF said.

According to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press, Israel and all Palestinian militant groups agreed to halt “all hostilities.” This means Israel has to end airstrikes and assassinations of wanted militants, while Palestinians have to halt rocket fire from inside Gaza.

After a 24 hour period, the agreement calls for “opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods, and refraining from restricting residents’ free movement,” according to AP.

However according to Israeli sources even though Israel has agreed to a truce, it will not lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory, which is run by the Islamist Hamas movement.

After the ceasefire appeared to take hold, Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate what they called a victory over Israel.

“People are asking me who is going to monitor the ceasefire? My answer to them is no one, I call upon the Syrians to monitor themselves.”

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Thursday met with UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi to discuss developments in Syria.

They underlined the impact of the Syrian crisis on neighbouring countries, particularly Jordan, which is hosting more than 200,000 Syrian refugees after they fled violence in their country, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

“We are closely following up on Brahimi’s efforts, and without a doubt his task is difficult and delicate as violence and killing are continuing in Syria,” Judeh said in statements after the meeting.

Judeh noted Brahimi’s calls for implementing a truce in Syria during Eid Al Adha.

Lakhdar Brahimi has been touring the region, attempting to gain international support for a temporary ceasefire in Syria during next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The Algerian diplomat’s visit to Syria for talks with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Saturday will be his last stop on a tour of countries that play influential roles in the Syrian crisis – Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, according to Al Jazeera.

The envoy will also meet with President Bashar al-Assad “very, very soon, but not on Saturday,” Brahimi’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, told AFP.

Damascus said it is ready to explore with Brahimi his proposal but wanted assurances that countries with influence on the rebels would pressure them to reciprocate.

Meanwhile, Syrian fighter jets blasted a residential road in northern Syria Thursday, Maraat al Numaan spewing rubble in all directions and killing at least 49 people, including 23 children, in a further escalation of violence in the war-torn country, rescuers said on Thursday according to AFP.

Rescuers said bombs destroyed two residential buildings and a mosque, where many women and children had been taking refuge, in the strategic northwestern town. Among those killed was a nine-month-old baby.

Rebels captured the strategic town on October 9 in a push to create a buffer zone along the Turkish border.

In a meeting in the Iranian capital, Tehran, with President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, and the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, the UN-Arab League representative underscored that a ceasefire during one of the holiest holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world would help create an environment that would allow a political process to develop, his spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Joint Special Representative for Syria told his interlocutors that what was needed in Syria today was real change; our primary goal, he said, is the welfare and well-being of the Syrian people and to help them build a future that meets their own legitimate aspirations,” the statement said.

Taking place in late October, the religious observance of Eid al-Adha – or the Feast of the Sacrifice – commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God.

During the meeting in Tehran, Mr. Brahimi also reiterated the call by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for a ceasefire and a halt to the flow of arms to both sides.

Mr. Brahimi has been holding talks with leaders in the region, including the Syrian Government and members of the Syrian opposition, to find a solution to the prolonged crisis. Last week, he met in Jeddah with the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and, over the weekend, he held talks in Istanbul with Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

More than 30,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in Syria since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began some 19 months ago, according to activists. A further 2.5 million Syrians urgently need humanitarian aid, and over 340,000 have crossed the border to Syria’s neighbouring countries, according to UN estimates.

In its latest humanitarian bulletin, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that the security situation continues to deteriorate as conflict has escalated in the cities of Aleppo, Damascus, Al-Raqqa and Homs. It also notes that fighting has moved to the Syrian-Turkish border and tension between the two countries has escalated.

OCHA and other UN humanitarian agencies are putting in place a winter strategy to ensure people have access to fuel, heating and electricity at a time when many have lost their livelihoods and the prices for basic services are increasing. The strategy also involves improving shelter conditions, distributing essential winter items, and providing cash assistances to affected families. OCHA also warned that the crisis is “seriously threatening people’s access to health as medical facilities and health professionals are routinely targeted during military operation by both parties to the conflict, in breach of international humanitarian law.”

On Monday morning, the World Health Organization (WHO) condemned attacks on health facilities in Syria, expressing deep concern about the serious implications of such attacks on medical personnel, patients and health infrastructure.

“WHO reinforces the obligation of all parties in a conflict under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, health facilities and health professionals during conflict. Health facilities must be treated as neutral premises and never be exploited for military purposes,” WHO said in a news release.

Almost 67 per cent of Syria’s public hospitals have been affected as a result of the conflict, and half of the country’s ambulances have been the subject of attack, leaving many of them out of service, according to the health agency. Vehicles transporting vaccinations have also been damaged, affecting the implementation of a national immunization programme.

“At a time when hospitals are overwhelmed with patients, it is vital that these facilities be protected and medical staff allowed to safely provide medical care to patients without any risk,” WHO noted.

Foreign minister of Russia Segei Lavrov has confirmed  in an interview with the Russian radio station Echo Moskvy for the first time that the cargo ship MV Alaed, which is now headed back to Russia, was carrying repaired Russian attack helicopters and said it would continue to carry out arms contracts with Assad’s government despite widespread condemnation.

The ship is scheduled to arrive Saturday in the Russian port of Murmansk, which is near its northern border with Finland, where it will drop its Curacao flag and re-register as a Russian ship.

Meanwhile, Aid workers hoping to evacuate trapped civilians and wounded were unable to enter hard-hit areas of the Syrian city of Homs on Thursday due to an “unclear” security situation and have returned to Damascus, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, according to Reuters. 

“After having attempted to go into the old city of Homs this morning, the team decided to turn back to Homs city due to shooting…Later on the team concluded that the security situation was too unclear for us to go in,” ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told Reuters in Geneva.

Homs is the center of the 15-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad with forces increasing efforts to crush the uprising.

 

The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed by Assad’s forces during the conflict while opposition groups say more than 15000 have been killed.

In central Hama province, five people were killed by gunfire, including a woman, when regime forces raided the village of al-Tamanaa al-Ghab, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, while 18 people were wounded and several houses were set on fire.

In Homs province, a man and his son were shot dead by regular forces in the city of Quusair. More than ten people have been wounded there.

Meanwhile, the Local Coordination Committee (LCC), an opposition group , said the Syrian army shelled Douma, a suburb in Damascus, early Sunday.

The U.N. mission in Syria has said it now has 176 military observers on the ground, more than half its planned strength of 300.

Since the cease-fire took effect  more than 900 people have been killed, raising the death toll of people killed since the outbreak of protests to more than 12,000 , according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria has accused the United States and Western countries on Saturday of conspiring with al Qaeda-linked militants to target the country, in the wake of a recent string of explosions in Damascus and Aleppo the government has blamed on foreign-backed fighters acocrding to Information Minister Adnan Hasan Mahmoud,  Al Arabiya reported.

He said attacks such as a deadly twin car bombing in Damascus on Wednesday which killed 55 people showed that elements linked to the global militant group al Qaeda were targeting Syria

Meanwhile, opposition denies such accusations and has stated that the government is behind the blasts.

The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the uprising, while Syria says militants have killed at least 2,600 of its security forces.

The death toll of civilians killed today has risen to 28, the same source reports, with 14 people killed in Hama most of which were killed in random gunfire by the Syrian  forces.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), confirmed that it had received reports of several “suspicious explosions” earlier in the morning in Damascus “in or near several government buildings, including the official state media and television office; a security centre in Rukneddine; and the Central Bank building in Sabaa Bahrat Square”,  AlJazeera reported citing the opposition group.

On the other hand, Syria’s state-run news agency reported that monday’s explosions  killed at least eight people amongst them civilians and security forces, blaming “armed gangs” for the attacks.

Meanwhile, The Norwegian General Robert Mood head of the UN mission to Syria charged with overseeing the shaky U.N.-backed ceasefire in Syria, arrived in Damascus on Sunday in the country promising it would “rapidly” reach its planned strength of 300 monitors.

The head of the UN observer mission to Syria has warned that even 1,000 unarmed observers could not end the violence in the country on their own. General Robert Mood urged all sides to halt fighting and said peace must be a joint effort.

30 observers will follow General Mood in the coming days, increasing the size of the mission. The UN has approved up to 300.

On the other hand, Syrian authorities have stated that they have withdrawn tanks from all cities.

The spokesman said Annan has reports that Syrian security forces might have killed people who had met with U.N. monitors, and that the international envoy will tell the Security Council that there is a need for “stronger presence” of monitors in Syria, Reuters reported.

“We have credible reports that when they leave, the gunfire starts again, that these people who approach the observers may be approached by the Syrian security forces or the Syrian army or even worse, perhaps killed and this is totally unacceptable,” Fawzi added.

Head of the Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalyoun, has warned that “If violence persists, we might need to use force to protect civilians.”

At the same time, State TV reported that three people were wounded when the car bomb that went off in the Marjeh district in Damascus, blaming an “armed terrorist group”.

“An armed terrorist group detonated the car bomb near the Yelbugha complex in Marjeh, wounding three people and causing damage to nearby buildings,” it reported.

It also said the bomb was placed under the car of an unsuspecting man, who was among those injured.

The blast came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said violence across the country killed approximately on Monday, despite the ceasefire.