GENEVA – Dear friends and colleagues in the humanitarian community.
Thank you for recognizing UNRWA on this World Humanitarian Day.
As we know, since the early hours of October 7, over 40,000 people, possibly far more, have been reportedly killed in Gaza and over 1,200 people in Israel.
In the process, the humanitarian community has suffered an unspeakable tragedy. At least 289 humanitarian workers from Palestinian and international NGOs and the UN have been killed. At least 211 are UN staff, including 207 from UNRWA alone, as well as staff from WHO, UNDP and UNDSS. At least 190 UNRWA buildings have been damaged or destroyed, killing over 560 people hiding inside. Over 135 children of UNRWA staff have been killed.
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Before the war, half of Gaza’s 625,000 children attended UNRWA schools. To achieve Gaza’s recovery and lasting peace, they must return to school with their teachers.
On July 10, Wafa, a UNRWA teacher, was killed with her husband and two children in Nuseirat.
On July 18, Seham, a UNRWA teacher, was injured in Bureij and her husband and children were killed. Seham later succumbed to her injuries.
On 21 July, Suha, a UNRWA teacher, was injured in Nuseirat and her husband, young daughter and son were killed. Suha succumbed to her injuries on 30 July.
On July 24, Ibtehal, a UNRWA teacher, was killed with her four-month-old daughter in Khan Younis.
On January 19, as was recently revealed, UNRWA teacher Ghada was killed along with her husband and six children.
They were all displaced from their homes. These are five entries from the UNRWA record of deaths among staff. We have two hundred more. They were teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, cleaners, support staff and technicians.
This is by far the largest loss of UN personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the founding of the United Nations.
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The harm being done to humanitarian workers and aid workers has been called a violation of international law and likely a war crime by relevant authorities inside and outside the UN. The consequences extend far beyond Gaza. In the humanitarian community, we know that we cannot work in the most dangerous places by force of arms, but by the power of law and principle. Many of us depend on respect for the UN flag every day, not just from governments but from individual fighters – in a plane overhead, at a roadblock. When that respect stops, we lose the protection we need to help those who need it most. There must be accountability.
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Within 30 seconds of entering Gaza through Rafah or Kerem Shalom, humanitarian workers find themselves in active conflict. The 18% of Gaza not under an evacuation order is densely packed—a normal five-minute drive takes an hour. Children are everywhere. UNRWA compounds, almost all of which have been converted into makeshift shelters, are packed with people trying to keep clean, care for their children, and survive. There is the constant sound of drones high in the sky, the sound of ship fire, the sound of bombs exploding near and far, or silent plumes of smoke rising from a distant rocket strike. People risk their lives to find clean water and food. Polio is spreading in open sewage. Children are dying from inadequate medical care, despite top-notch hospitals nearby.
Almost all UNRWA and humanitarian aid workers have been displaced. Like the rest of the population, they live on the floors of schools, in half-destroyed buildings and in tents made of carpets and branches.
In this environment, humanitarian workers are keeping Gaza alive.
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I asked my colleagues in Gaza what I should say here.
They told me that they worry about the safety of their families all day at work. When they hear each explosion, they try to calculate in their heads how big it is, where it is, and how close their families are.
They said Gaza residents were angry with the international community, represented by humanitarian workers on the ground, for failing to stop the destruction.
Randa and Farid spoke about two dear friends among the deceased UNRWA staff – Seline, a midwife, and Shahar, who dedicated his life to educating children with special needs. “Gaza has lost so much,” they said.
Rida, a UNRWA school principal who now works as a shelter manager, described how a rocket attack on her shelter in Khan Younis killed 17 people instantly. With no ambulances to arrive, she and other UNRWA staff who had no medical training cared for many others with serious injuries overnight. The worst part was seeing people shrunk into “bundles.”
Eima works in movement coordination for humanitarian missions. She describes getting up at 4 a.m. to get and relay updates on safe routes, and then spending the whole day worrying about whether the routes she shares really provide safety for her colleagues.
My colleagues told me that everyone is constantly dreaming of a ceasefire.
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In the midst of pain, as humanists we look for hope and light wherever we can find it.
Is it understandable that even if a UNRWA school is hit by bombs that kill internally displaced people, and days later there is another bombing attack, the internally displaced people still stay there because, despite everything, they feel safer under the blue flag of the UN; safer when UN staff are around them?
Is it not enlightening that on a single day in February, UNRWA was able to make over 20,000 patient visits to our few remaining health centres? And that on one terrible day, one of these clinics in Nuseirat was transformed from primary care to intensive care, where staff, under heavy fire, performed improvised operations on over 150 trauma patients admitted within a matter of hours?
Is there any reason for hope? Despite the horror of the polio outbreak, the humanitarian community has somehow managed to devise a health campaign? Now the parties to the conflict must enable this plan to be implemented.
My colleagues said they were enormously proud of their work and of UNRWA and the other humanitarian operations. They said, ‘We are the door that is always open to the community.’ UNRWA, through our thousands of staff, is involved in almost every aspect of the humanitarian response in Gaza. The day after each horrific moment, staff continue to go to work no matter how deeply affected they are, even when their own children have died.
I ask that we recognize the humanitarian personnel working in and around Gaza. From Palestinian health and security organizations, to international NGOs, to UN agencies and departments such as WHO, UNDP, UNDSS, OCHA, WFP, IOM, UNICEF, OHCHR, UNMAS, the Resident Coordinator and the Special Coordinator and their teams, and others. And I ask that we recognize the UNRWA staff who, despite all these hardships, are still “keeping the door open.”
I also remember the outstanding work, courage and commitment of humanitarian personnel around the world, from across the NGO and UN communities, and our colleagues who lost their lives in Iraq in 2003.
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Despite all attempts to abuse it, whether through attacks or violations of neutrality, the blue UN flag continues to stand for the principles of human rights, international law and humanity for all peoples affected by this terrible conflict, on all sides of borders and walls and regardless of their national, religious or ethnic origin. At the risk of their lives, our colleagues in Gaza and around the world set this standard every day.
The last message I would like to share is an impromptu speech by our colleague Miranda, a Palestinian senior manager of a large UNRWA Gaza team. On my last visit to Gaza, I listened to her gathering about 40 staff members around her. Ignoring the sounds of explosions in the background, she smiled and spoke as she walked across the room, looking at her team. “Thank you for your commitment, for your hard work. We are strong. We defend our organization, which is our family. We will take the wrath of our community. We are here. We will not abandon our internally displaced people. We will not leave anyone behind, even if we stand alone.”
Today, on World Humanitarian Day 2024, the entire UNRWA and the humanitarian community in Gaza know that we are not alone.
Thank you very much.
Background information:
UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established the agency in 1949 with the mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the agency’s area of operations until a just and lasting solution to their plight is found.
The UNRWA humanitarian agency operates in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the 1948 conflict are still on the run and in need of support almost 75 years later.
UNRWA supports Palestinian refugees in achieving their full potential in human development by providing quality services in the areas of education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely through voluntary contributions.
For further information please contact:
UNRWA on Twitter: @UNRWA
Email: [email protected]
