More than 10,000 people fled rebel-held areas in Syria's Aleppo amid heavy bombardment and fierce fighting between government forces and rebels, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The United Nations on Thursday urged the US and Russia to broker peace in east Aleppo to allow civilians to evacuate peacefully. More than 1,50,000 people are still trapped in the area with no food aid being allowed into the region.
"They fled towards government-held areas in west Aleppo and districts newly controlled by regime forces in the north and centre of the city," said SOHR head Rami Abdel Rahman.
Russia had also said on Thursday that Syrian forces had stopped attacks in the area to allow civilians to evacuate. However, locals had denied the claim, saying that fighting between the rebels and the government forces continue.
More than 800 people died in the last 26 days and 3,000-3,500 were wounded due to regime forces' heavy and intense attacks.
A local in Aleppo's southeast told AFP he saw large crowds of people escaping towards regime-held districts in west Aleppo. SOHR also said that the fighting is ongoing. An AFP correspondent said that bombardment in east Aleppo was heard throughout the night.
"The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the crossfire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria," UN Syria humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday. Despite attempting to broker peace for five months, the two countries have not been able to maintain ceasefire after trying twice.
"Russia said they will definitely be discussing with us how to organise the evacuations, but they are not any more promising any pause (in fighting)," Egeland said.
Residents had said that despite authorities saying that they halted bombardment, there were drone and tank movements and they were also not offered evacuation routes.
Idlib has also said that it can no longer accommodate more displaced people since its full to the brim. With no evacuation plan or end to hostilities in the region, Aleppo-residents remain stranded with no help in the offing anytime soon.
