ISIS steal United Nations food parcels and paste their own symbol on them to dupe hungry civilians

ISIS are apparently 'rebranding' UN food parcels and handing them out to the desperately hungry in Syria.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has declared itself "extremely concerned" by photographs showing its food parcels being handed out in Syria with Islamic State logos on them.

Images circulating on social media show food being distributed from cardboard boxes with "Islamic State in Syria" labels pasted over the WFP logo.

The militant Islamist group, which controls large swathes of Syria and northern Iraq, appears to be distributing the much-needed aid as part of their propaganda efforts.

It is similar to the tactic used by the North Korean authorities, which convinced average citizens that shipments of U.S. food aid are actually reparations for past crimes during and after the Korean War.

"WFP condemns this manipulation of desperately needed food aid inside Syria," said Muhannad Hadi, WFP Emergency Regional Coordinator, in a statement late on Monday.

The agency was trying to confirm the authenticity of those images, it said.

The photographs seemed to have been taken in Deir Hafr village, about 50 km from Aleppo, where WFP last August delivered enough food to feed 8,500 people for a month.

WFP rations are distributed in many areas by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC).

In September, ISIS raided SARC warehouses where food rations may have been stored, WFP said.