LIVE BLOG: Battle for Aleppo

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday also appealed to the Syrian government and its Russian ally to stop bombing rebel-held eastern Aleppo, warning they were provoking a "bloodbath" among civilians in the city.

"Bombs are raining from Syria-led coalition planes and the whole of east Aleppo has become a giant kill box," MSF director of operations Xisco Villalonga said in a statement.

Fighting in Syria's besieged eastern Aleppo has killed 338 people in the past few weeks, including 106 children, and 846 people who have been wounded.

Rick Brennan, WHO's head of emergency risk management and humanitarian response, told a UN briefing in Geneva that the "the situation really is unfathomable".

He also said: "We are asking for four things: stop the killing, stop attacks on health care, let the sick and wounded out and let the aid in."

A water station in rebel-held eastern Aleppo was destroyed in the early hours of Friday morning as Syrian government forces continue their advancce to take control of the city. 

According to activists on the ground, the water plant served more than 250,000 people. This latest attack deals a heavy blow to residents in Aleppo as shortages of supplies continue to persist in the besieged rebel-controlled area. 

Bunker-busting bombs are putting children in so much danger in Syria's Aleppo that they won't even be able to return to underground schools when classes resume this weekend, a charity said Friday.

The "ferocious assault" on Aleppo could deprive almost 100,000 school-age children of an education, said Save the Children, which supports 13 schools in the northern battleground city, including eight underground.

Save the Children said the use of the "earthquake bombs" which burrow four to five metres (yards) into the ground before exploding meant even underground schools were unsafe.

"Schools in eastern Aleppo were due to re-open for the new school year tomorrow, but as the city continues to suffer a ferocious assault they will remain closed, depriving almost 100,000 school-age children of an education, while they continue in fear for their lives," it said in a statement.

The bunker-busting bombs are used to penetrate hardened targets such as underground military headquarters, leaving victims entombed in rubble.

"Parents are afraid to send their children to school because everything is targeted," said a school principal in eastern Aleppo only identified as Omar.

"The students are also suffering on all levels, you see them barely walking, dragging themselves, which makes them unable to focus on the learning and studying," Save the Children quoted him as saying.

US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned what they called "barbarous" Russian and Syrian government airstrikes on Aleppo during a phone call on Thursday, the White House said.

Russia and the Syrian government "bear special responsibility for ending the fighting in Syria," the two leaders agreed, strongly condemning the strikes in eastern Aleppo, an area they said is "populated with hundreds of thousands of civilians, half of whom are children."

MEE spoke to residents in East Aleppo who fear a city wide massacre, if forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and their Russian allies, crush opposition in the last major urban stronghold held by rebels. 

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Speaking to reporters in Geneva, the UN deputy envoy for Syria, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, told reporters in Geneva, that "hundreds" needed medical evacuation from rebel-controlled East Aleppo. 

At the press conference he said: "Utmost on our mind is the need to address the very concerning medical situation" in the east of Aleppo.

Ramzy also said that enough food aid is left for a quarter of the city's population. 

Russia has a "special responsibility to calm violence and give a political process a chance" in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

"The latest offensive by the Syrian regime against Aleppo -- supported by Russia -- has made the suffering of the civilian population yet worse," the two leaders agreed in a telephone talk, according to a statement released by Merkel's office.

MEE contributor and Aleppo resident Zouhir al-Shimale has said that the streets of East Aleppo are flooded after the water sytem was fixed and turned back on. 

Residents have had to face weeks of water shortages after key desalination plants were targeted by Syrian government and Russian air-strikes, according to activists on the ground. 

Activists also told MEE that fixing the water system will not help the situation in East Aleppo as the government siege has led to a shortage of fuel used to power water transport vehicles in the rebel controlled area. 

Speaking at his annual address, Pope Francis condemned the current assault on Aleppo, saying that those responsible must answer to God. 

He also said: "I suffer deep pain and strong worry for what’s happening,” saying “children and elderly … everyone is dying."