By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States on Sunday called for the United Nations Security Council to "vote&nbsp;immediately" to authorize the delivery of&nbsp;U.N.&nbsp;aid&nbsp;to rebel-held northwest&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;through&nbsp;more&nbsp;border crossings from&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;after last week's deadly earthquake.
Since 2014 the&nbsp;U.N. has been able to deliver&nbsp;aid&nbsp;to millions of people in need in the northwest part of war-torn&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;through&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;under a Security Council mandate. But it is currently restricted to using just one border crossing.
"Right now, every hour matters," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the&nbsp;U.S. ambassador to the&nbsp;U.N., said&nbsp;in a statement to Reuters. "People in the affected areas are counting on us."
"We cannot let them down - we must&nbsp;vote&nbsp;immediately on a resolution to heed the&nbsp;U.N.'s call for authorization of additional border crossings for the delivery of humanitarian assistance," she said. "It's time to move with urgency and purpose."
U.N.&nbsp;aid&nbsp;chief Martin Griffiths, who is in&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and is due to visit&nbsp;Syria, told Sky News on Saturday that he would ask the Security Council to authorize&nbsp;aid&nbsp;access&nbsp;through two&nbsp;more&nbsp;border crossings, arguing there is "a very clear humanitarian case."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday pushed for&nbsp;more&nbsp;access.
'FAILED'
On the 15-member Security Council, Brazil and Switzerland take the lead on negotiating any action related to the&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;humanitarian&nbsp;aid&nbsp;access&nbsp;issue. Diplomats said&nbsp;no draft resolution has yet been circulated to authorize&nbsp;more&nbsp;crossings.
The death toll from the earthquake last week in&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;passed 33,000 on Sunday. Of the 3,500 deaths so far reported in&nbsp;Syria, where the number has not been updated for two days, the bulk occurred in the northwest part of the country.
A resolution would need nine&nbsp;votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.&nbsp;Syrian ally Russia has said&nbsp;that the existing council mandate for a single border crossing was sufficient.
The&nbsp;Syrian government views&nbsp;aid&nbsp;deliveries across its border without its approval as a violation of sovereignty and says&nbsp;aid&nbsp;should be delivered across the frontlines of the 12-year-old civil war. On Friday it&nbsp;approved&nbsp;aid&nbsp;deliveries across frontlines.
But the&nbsp;U.N. said&nbsp;on Sunday that earthquake&nbsp;aid&nbsp;from government-held parts of&nbsp;Syria&nbsp;into the northwest part of the country has been held up by "approval issues" with one hardline group.
The ambassadors of Brazil and Switzerland said&nbsp;on Friday they wanted Griffiths to brief the Security Council before any action was discussed. Diplomats said&nbsp;Griffiths is likely to speak to it on Monday.
Griffiths on Sunday visited the one Turkish border crossing that the&nbsp;U.N. is currently authorized to use to deliver&nbsp;aid&nbsp;to northwest&nbsp;Syria, where the some 4 million people needed help before the earthquake struck the region.
"We have so far failed the people in northwest&nbsp;Syria," Griffiths said&nbsp;in a post on Twitter.
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(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Simao)

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U.S. urges U.N. vote to approve more aid access to Syria via Turkey