More than 12 staff members and the director of the Syrian Red Crescent were killed when an air strike hit trucks carrying food and blankets to town of Orem al-Kubra, west of the northern city of Aleppo.
The raid late on Monday came just an hour after the Syrian military declared the week-long US-Russian brokered ceasefire had failed.
It was not immediately clear whether it had been a Syrian or a Russian warplane, but the US blamed Russia either way for failing to rein in Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Stephen O’Brien, the UN’s emergency relief chief, said the trucks had been clearly marked and their coordinates given to government authorities. He said if proved to be deliberate, the attack would amount to a war crime.
The Kremlin said the Russian military was checking media reports about the incident.
Jens Laerke, spokesman of OCHA, said the temporary suspension of the aid deliveries would hold pending a review of the security situation in Syria.
"It’s a very, very dark day ... for humanitarians across the world," he said.
The ICRC, a partner of the UN, said it had planned deliveries to four besieged towns today which will be postponed until further notice.
Some hundreds of thousands of Syrians are living in blockaded areas of the country, many of whom in opposition-held east Aleppo.
Without deliveries of basic supplies, there is a risk of malnutrition and in worst cases starvation.
John Kerry, US secretary of state, said last night that he hoped to get the deal back on track if Russia demonstrated good will.
However a Kremlin spokesman said on Tuesday that there was little hope of renewing the ceasefire unless "terrorists" ceased their attacks.
"The situation in Syria is a source of great concern," Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
"Unfortunately, we can state ... that our American colleagues have failed to separate terrorists from the so-called moderate opposition."
Minutes after the ceasefire deadline expired, residents of east Aleppo reported bombs “falling like rain”.
Brita Haji Hasan, head of the opposition council in Aleppo, said the ceasefire “was born dead.”
“It was never committed to by Russian forces or Assad’s regime,” he said. “And this is not the first time a ceasefire has been attempted, only to fail.”
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