GENEVA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- A UN statement on Friday described that Syria's Eastern Ghouta is now "a living example of an entirely known, predictable, and preventable humanitarian disaster unfolding before our eyes".

　　Jens Laerke of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that according to some sources, the total death toll in the region since Feb. 19 is close to 300 people.

　　He told a Palais des Nations press briefing Friday that at least seven health facilities were reportedly hit on Feb. 21.

　　"Over the past 24 hours, heavy shelling and aerial bombardment on multiple communities in East Ghouta reportedly continued, resulting, it is reported, in the death of at least 50 people and wounding at least 200," he said.

　　According to the UN official, ground-based strikes and mortar shelling from eastern Ghouta also killed or injured scores of civilians in Damascus city.

　　Alessandra Vellucci, head of United Nations Information Service in Geneva, also cited the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, as saying that the humanitarian situation of the civilians in Eastern Ghouta was "appalling".

　　"There was an urgent need for a ceasefire to stop both the horrific heavy bombardment of Eastern Ghouta and the indiscriminate mortar shelling on Damascus," de Mistura was cited as saying.