Kızılay urges urgent protection for aid workers in Gaza

Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) volunteers distribute food to residents affected by the ongoing crisis in Gaza, Palestine, July 2025. (Courtesy of Kızılay)

The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) has called on the international community to protect humanitarian personnel, emphasizing that attacks on aid workers are a violation of international humanitarian law. The appeal comes ahead of World Humanitarian Day, observed annually on Aug. 19.

Kızılay President professor Fatma Meriç Yılmaz addressed a letter to the embassies of United Nations Security Council member states in Türkiye, issuing a five-point emergency appeal focused on the escalating crisis in Gaza. Yılmaz stressed that the safety of humanitarian and medical personnel is a legal obligation and urged the immediate deployment of a multinational Humanitarian Observatory and Protection mission to ensure aid workers can operate without threats or obstruction.

Highlighting the global rise in attacks on humanitarian staff, Yılmaz noted that 2025 is already proving deadlier than last year, with 168 aid workers killed in the first half alone. In Gaza, at least 508 humanitarian personnel, including 346 U.N. staff and 51 from the Palestine Red Crescent, have lost their lives since Oct. 7, 2023.

The five-point appeal includes an immediate cease-fire, guaranteed access to aid, the appointment of impartial monitors, protection for humanitarian and medical personnel, and the activation of the U.N. General Assembly if the Security Council is deadlocked. Yılmaz warned that continued inaction would not only prolong human suffering but also undermine the Geneva Conventions, the foundation of international humanitarian law.

World Humanitarian Day honors aid workers who risk their lives in conflict and disaster zones. The day was established in memory of the 22 aid workers killed in the Aug. 19, 2003, bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.