Syrian families, fleeing from various eastern districts of Aleppo, wait to board vehicles.

Some 20,000 people have fled intensified attacks on rebel-held eastern Aleppo in Syria since Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday.

The aid agency said it stood ready to organize medical evacuations of the sick and wounded and called for civilians to be allowed safe passage out of the besieged eastern sector.

The ICRC called again for access to east Aleppo, which it has not been able to reach with food, medicines and other relief supplies since April.

Syria and its allies aim to drive rebels from Aleppo before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president, a senior official in the pro-Damascus military alliance said, as pro-government forces surged to their biggest victories in the city for years.

“With no end in sight to the fighting or indeed a wider peace being reached, thousands more civilians face a daily struggle to survive,” said Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, who is currently visiting shelters for the newly displaced staying in government-controlled west Aleppo.

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