As the besieged rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta in Damascus prepared for a fifth straight day of bombing, the UN has demanded an end to the violence, which it called “hell on earth”.

“Eastern Ghouta cannot wait,“ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting on Wednesday night.

“This is a human tragedy that is unfolding in front of our eyes and I don’t think we can let things go on happening in this horrendous way,” he continued.

Scenes of devastation in Syria after deadly shelling and airstrikes and eastern Ghouta

“There is a need for avoiding the massacre, because we will be judged by history,” the UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura added.

Sweden and Kuwait have called for a vote on a resolution ordering a 30 day ceasefire throughout Syria and the immediate delivery of aid to millions of people in need.

Members states are due to meet later on Thursday.

Russia, which has often used its power as a permanent member of the security council to veto action in Syria, has said it will consider supporting the ceasefire as long as it does not cover Isis and al Qaeda-linked groups.

The cessation in hostilities is possible as long as it does not cover Isis, the Nusra Front and other groups who are shelling residential quarters of Damascus, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said ahead of the meeting.

Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Show all 14 1 /14 Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian woman and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Smoke rises from buildings following the attack on the village of Mesraba in the rebel-held besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascu. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A Syrian man carries a child injured. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured child receives treatment following bombings on several areas of eastern Ghouta. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A child reacts inside a hospital after relatives were injured in the bombing. EPA Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian children cry at a make-shift hospital in Douma following air strikes on the Syrian village of Mesraba. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense group extinguishing a store during airstrikes and shelling by Syrian government forces. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures A wounded 12-year-old Syrian boy, cries as he receives treatment at a make-shift hospital. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrians carry a wounded man. AFP/Getty Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures An injured man covered with blood at a medical point. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures People sit a medical point in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Reuters Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Syrian Civil Defense running to help survivors. AP Eastern Ghouta bombings: Syrian war in pictures Injured children receive medical treatment. EPA

Eastern Ghouta is technically covered by a de-escalation agreement reached by world powers last year.

The regime says al Qaeda-linked groups operating in the area are not part of the deal - raising the possibility that Russia's openness to a ceasefire deal would not include the current operation there.

At least 400 people, including 92 children, have been killed in eastern Ghouta since Sunday, when Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his Russian allies launched one of the fiercest air assaults in the entire seven-year-old conflict.

Pictures and video emerging from the area show horrendous levels of suffering for Ghouta’s 400,000 residents, already starving thanks to a five-year-long siege. Children cry out for their parents, covered in blood and choking on dust.

“People are hiding under the ground in tunnels, building new ones,” resident Wasim Khatib said.

“But there is no escape. It is useless.”

Hospitals are so overwhelmed patients are being treated on floors streaked with blood. A staggering 22 medical facilities have been damaged by the strikes, further hindering medical workers’ ability to help treat the injured.

“They have started to use barrel bombs... God is the only one who can help us now,” Dr Malik of a local hospital said.

The UN’s children’s fund Unicef issued a blank statement in response to the bloodshed on Tuesday, saying that “no words” did justice to the loss of life in Ghouta.

Despite vocal opposition from the UN and several Western governments, however, many in eastern Ghouta are sceptical the international community will be able to meaningly intervene in the conflict.

Syrian state media reported that peace talks with the rebels the previous day had failed.