stephanie decker al jazeera. turning now to chemical weapons in syria, the u.n. says they were likely used in five out of seven attacks investigated by u.n. inspectors. four of those involve the deadly nebraska agent. including a large scale civilian attack in the rebel controlled neighborhood in the outskits of damascus. that killed hundreds of people in august. after that attack, syrian president government agreed to destroy it's chemical weapons arsenal. an unexpected snow storm in the middle east today, it is the most snow that jerusalem has seen in december in 60 years. force from their homed by the three year long civil war. kevin is here with more on that situation. kevin? >> that's right. we have been knowing that the storm would be coming for several days now, and you can see all of the clouds right here, there was a little bit of a silver lining in this. i want to show you some video, kids that took advantage of the snow, not much fun these days but with the snow on the ground, they had a great snowball fight there. now, unfortunately, this also causes

al jazeera's stephanie decker has this report, and we must warning there are very graphic images in this report. >> reporter: besieged, bombarded, and ultimately starved to death. this is what happens to the human body when it doesn't get enough food. [ crying ] >> the humanitarian situation is disastrous. there is a threat of famine and people are getting sick. basics like rice and sugar are hardly available, and some corrupt traders took advantage of the says and sell rice between $50 and $70 u.s. also medicine has run out. >> reporter: in the last few months it has been surrounded and completely cut off by government troops. it's prompted the united nations relief agency for palestine refugees to call for an immediate humanitarian corridor to access the people trapped inside. >> there are perpetual reports of staff aggravation, mal malnutrition and hunger. those reports are disturbing. they must lead to a lifting of the siege as the commission general and other world leaders have asked. there are as many 20,000 people trapped inside, many of them children, and aware extremely concerne

stephanie decker, al jazeera. >>> the death toll from the car bomb in beirut has risen to 7. the target is believed to have been mahamid shasa. he was an out spoonlike ridict of the al asooed and hezbollah. nobody has claimed responsibility. >> the lights are out for thousands of people in the northeast t could get worse. an ice storm earlier this week cut power to half a million homes from michigan to maine. warmer weather in some areas the next few days could cause falling ice and that could bring down more power lines which, of course, is not good news. rebecca, you were saying earlier, they could see even more snowy weather coming up. >> got it coming in. it's developing, jonathan. if you thought it was cold last week, wait until you get this hit. this is coming in to start out the new year. yes, high temperatures are getting colder and colder in the upper midwest. this is where temperatures dropped down, now, to 17 in billings, but note the difference. minneapolis still sitting at 40 while the winds are picking up. they are powerful gusts here and the wind gusts, as blus