Women aid workers in Gaza continue to face extreme danger and challenges

“I will not hide from you that most humanitarian workers, including myself, suffer from anxiety. We can't sleep; we can't have sound, uninterrupted sleep. Our sleep is intermittent as a result of the fear we all feel living in the Gaza Strip. Fear haunts us in every step we take to provide humanitarian aid.” Gaza is the now world’s deadliest place for aid workers, with the death toll since October 7 standing at a record 287, according to UNOCHA. Humanitarian workers have allegedly been hit by Israeli airstrikes despite informing the Israeli authorities of their location, according to Human Rights Watch, while there have been repeated attacks on areas deemed so-called ‘safe zones’ where humanitarian workers are providing urgent care and support to 1.9 million internally displaced Palestinians across Gaza. Many aid workers have lost loved ones themselves yet have continued to support others despite their grief: one staff member at one of ActionAid’s partner organisations recently lost four children in an Israeli military attack, while another lost her husband and brother on the same day. As the crisis drags on into its tenth month, women and girls in Gaza need support more than ever, as food, water, hygiene products and medicines remain scarce, and deteriorating conditions put them at particular risk. Humanitarian workers are doing everything they can, despite some of the worst conditions in the world, but they must urgently scale up their operations to be anywhere close to meeting the colossal needs of the population in Gaza.

Tasneem, 23, who works with the Palestinian NGO’s Network (PNGO), ActionAid’s partner in Gaza, said supporting others helped her cope with the horrors of the crisis. Having graduated from university just two months before October 7, she recently joined PNGO to work as a part-time translator and media advocate. She said: “Palestinian or the local NGOs are the first responders for their people, especially in times of emergency. This motivates and inspires me to go and to persist, to keep going and to insist on delivering what I can do for my people with the available resources I have in my hand... Helping my people is a therapy that helps me to heal.”

Aseel works for WEFAQ, which supports people in Gaza and particularly women and girls by providing essentials like food, hygiene products and maternity kits, as well as running a hotline for those experiencing gender-based violence. She said: “Women [have] faced so many violations, starting from violence due to the Israeli forces and the social violence. Women now became responsible for their families due to losing their husbands or because they are, for example, imprisoned or [have been] killed in this war. Sometimes they are facing some sexual exploitation and to get, for example, a food parcel to feed their children and so on.”

Organisations like WEFAQ face huge challenges in trying to provide services because of the frequent displacements in Gaza. One of ActionAid's partners in eastern Khan Younis has been unable to reach its warehouses because they are in areas covered by so-called “evacuation orders”. The chaos of war, limited fuel availability, continuous bombing and unsafe conditions for aid convoys have all slowed down and limited aid deliveries. According to UNOCHA, an average of 169 aid trucks per day made their way across the border in April – a number that has sharply fallen to fewer than 80 trucks in June and July. This comes as Israeli authorities in recent weeks have approved just 24 out of 67 planned aid missions into northern Gaza and around half of those in southern Gaza as famine continues to loom large.

Fatma, a project officer with ActionAid-Alianza, said: “We're suffering from many challenges that make delivering services for the targeted group more difficult. Some of these challenges are the random shelling and bombing everywhere...there is no safe place for the targeted group to [access] the service...Also, the continuous displacement and evacuation from place to place for the people... [makes delivery] and access to the service more difficult.” Yet despite the challenges, humanitarian workers in Gaza have proven remarkably resilient and able to adapt quickly and effectively as circumstances change, remaining unwaveringly dedicated to supporting those in need. Women humanitarian workers have been able to build trust and reach the women and girls who most require support, ensuring their needs are met. Samira lives in the Al-Istiqama camp for displaced people in Deir al-Balah, which she herself helped set up and now helps manage, supporting the women and girls who are among the almost 2,000 people sheltering there and who – thanks to her efforts – have access to a medical point, education point, entertainment point and psychological support. She said: “I am proud of myself because I was able to manage things more than any young man. I can enter any tent and see what people need and see what women need...and [what] girls need...We want things to support women because women [suffer] a lot.”

Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at ActionAid Palestine said: 

“Today we’re reminded of the immense suffering and selfless sacrifice of aid workers risking their lives daily to serve their communities across Gaza and across the rest of the world. In Gaza, they are continuing to provide lifesaving aid while facing relentless bombardment, the loss of loved ones and colleagues, all amidst an unprecedented humanitarian crisis they themselves are living in.

“But for too long, aid workers have courageously worked around the clock in Gaza while the international community sits on its hands as the death toll ticks ever higher. As global powers gather to discuss a deal that might end this senseless war, we are demanding that aid access in Gaza is urgently improved so that humanitarian workers can provide lifesaving relief to people in need. The only way to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is by ensuring the unfettered flow of aid through land crossings into Gaza. This can only be achieved through an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”

Contact the ActionAid press office at [email protected] or at +263776665065.