PARIS: Around 50,000 people, the majority civilians, were still trapped in eastern Aleppo even as an evacuation deal was under way, the United Nations peace envoy for Syria and French foreign minister said on Thursday.

“There are 50,000 people, including 40,000 civilians unfortunate enough to live in that part of the city. The rest are fighters, numbering between 1,500 and 5,000, and their families,” the UN’s Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Paris, alongside France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault.