With the news on Tuesday that a record 383 aid workers were confirmed killed in the line of duty last year, one veteran UN aid worker based in Gaza reaffirmed the resolve of humanitarians everywhere to save lives and relieve suffering, no matter how challenging the situation.
Speaking to UN News from the wartorn enclave to mark World Humanitarian Day, Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that exhausted aid workers continue to show up for work “day in and day out”.
Approaching two years since the start of the war in Gaza, Ms. Cherevko emphasized the commitment of her Palestinian colleagues, “the doctors, the nurses, aid workers who many of them have, lost everything and several times over”.
Red lines crossed
In comments in support of aid workers everywhere, UN Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out that humanitarian teams “are the last lifeline for over 300 million people” impacted by conflict or disaster.
Despite their lifesaving role, funding cuts are having a serious and negative impact on the world’s most vulnerable people, Mr. Guterres warned, while those who provide aid are increasingly under attack as “red lines are crossed with impunity”.
This is despite the fact that such attacks are prohibited under international law, the UN chief continued, noting that although governments have pledged action to protect them, “what is missing is political will – and moral courage…Humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted.”
Powerless to help
From her base in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, Ms. Cherevko reflected on the nature of humanitarian work today and the frustration that aid teams often face when their lifesaving missions are delayed, preventing them from delivering assistance at scale.
“I think as a humanitarian, I feel powerless sometimes in Gaza because I know what it is that we can do as humanitarians when we’re unable to do so, both here in Gaza and in any other humanitarian crisis,” she explained.
“The fact that we continue to face massive impediments for delivering aid at scale, when our missions are delayed, when our missions lasted 12, 14, 18 hours; the routes that we’re given are dangerous, impassible or inaccessible.”
Surge in killings
Latest data indicates a 31 per cent surge in aid worker deaths compared to 2023, driven by the relentless conflict in Gaza.
The Strip saw 181 humanitarian workers killed in 2024, with 60 more fatalities in Sudan. More widely, violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared to the previous year, with State actors the most common perpetrators.
Worryingly, there is no sign that the trend is slowing this year, with 265 aid workers killed as of 14 August this year, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database.
Amid early reports that Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and ongoing uncertainty about the Israeli plan to pursue a complete military takeover of the enclave, OCHA’s Ms. Cherevko highlighted the need for a permanent end to the conflict.
Aid teams are exhausted and “everyone’s still showing up (to work), but courage alone and commitment alone isn’t going to feed people, isn’t going to save people”, she insisted. “What we need is, again, a permanent ceasefire. We need political solutions to this conflict and a resolution to this crisis.”
According to OCHA, most of the aid workers killed last year were national staff serving their communities, attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.
An additional 308 aid workers were wounded, with 125 kidnapped and 45 detained in 2024.
“Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said Tom Fletcher, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy…Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.”
Why do we mark World Humanitarian Day?
On 19 August 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years later, the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day.
Each year, the international day brings together partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers.
The theme of this year’s commemoration overseen by OCHA is an end to the attacks on humanitarians and civilians and impunity under International Humanitarian Law. “We urge those in power to #ActForHumanity,” the UN agency said.
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