Around 400 people should be urgently evacuated from the besieged Syrian town of Madaya to receive medical treatment, UN diplomats have said.
Around 35,000 people are trapped in the town and had not received supplies since October until a an aid convoy arrived on Monday.
Emergency aid supplies have been delivered to besieged civilians in the Syrian town of Madaya, a UN officials based in the capital of Damascus has confirmed.
The official said that he had witnessed starving children in the town, which has been cut off from the outside world by armed groups for months.
A UN spokesman said aid trucks were also en route to the Shiite villages of al Foua and Kefraya in the northwestern province of Idlib, two other areas where there is a desperate need for humanitarian assistance.
Yacoub El Hillo, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria who was in Madaya overseeing the operation, said he had also received reports, which could not be confirmed, that at least 40 people had died of starvation.
At least 50 trucks are taking food and medical supplies to 35,000 people trapped in Madaya which had been cut off from help for months.
An aid convoy intended for starving locals in a besieged Syrian village is due to set off on Monday, amid calls for the world to do more.
Shocking images from Syria shine a light on a cruel, medieval form of torture being inflicted on citizens - starvation, writes Rageh Omaar.