BEIRUT – The death toll resulting from airstrikes carried out against rebel-held areas near the Syrian capital Damascus has risen to 78, including 19 children and 20 women, a war monitoring group reported on Wednesday.

Blaming the government forces for Tuesday’s attacks on Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 160 people were also injured.

Civilians and Syria Civil Defense rescuers were seen searching for people missing under the rubble of a collapsed building in the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma, while some people were injured and covered in blood.

The United Kingdom-based watchdog added that the highest mortality number was registered in Douma and Arbin, where 31 and 13 people died, respectively.

On Tuesday, the United Nations representatives in Syria called for a one-month ceasefire in order to allow food and humanitarian aid to be brought in and the ill and wounded to be evacuated for treatment elsewhere.

About 400,000 people have been trapped in Eastern Ghouta, which has been under siege by the forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for over four years, according to UN figures.