ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned of the “living nightmare” children have to face in the Syrian city of Aleppo, estimating that 96 children have been killed and 223 wounded in the recent bombing campaign by Syrian regime and Russian forces.





“There are no words left to describe the suffering they are experiencing,” said the organization’s Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth in a statement released on Wednesday. “Nothing can justify such assaults on children and such total disregard for human life.”





In Aleppo the toll being taken on the children there is, he added, “definitely the worst we have seen.”





The ferocious bombardment has also taken a toll on the health system in opposition-held eastern Aleppo, where there are only 30 doctors left in an area still populated by approximately 250,000 people.





UNICEF adds that there is also “hardly any equipment or emergency medicine to treat the injured, and an ever increasing number of trauma cases.”





UNICEF’s statement came as either Russian or Syrian warplanes destroyed two hospitals in eastern Aleppo, prompting the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to compare the situation for civilians in eastern Aleppo to that of a “slaughterhouse.”





“Those, using ever more destructive weapons know exactly what they are doing,” Ban said, “They know they are committing war crimes.”





“Imagine a slaughterhouse. This is worse,” he added. “Even a slaughterhouse is more humane.”