By Kouthar Sambo

According to a UN spokesperson, the effects of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey-Syria have temporarily halted humanitarian deliveries from Turkiye to north-western Syria, forcing relief workers to figure out how to assist people in a war-torn nation, Reuters reports.

Madevi Sun-Suon, a Spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), told Reuters that it was unclear when the aid, on which 4 million people rely on, will be accessible.

Furthermore, the current death toll exceeds 7,200 people according to Middle East Eye. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in demands to open border crossing so aid can reach Syria more easily. The earthquakes highlight how difficult it is to provide relief to Syria and have already prompted some to call on the US and European Union to lift the harsh sanctions that have been imposed since the start of the civil war in 2011.

However, Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of Islamic thinking and Muslim cultures at the University of Notre Dame, maintains that humanitarian help should take precedence over international affairs.

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