2024 has become the deadliest year for aid workers, with devastating attacks in Gaza forcing humanitarian organisations to halt operations.
Over the weekend, aid workers from Save the Children and World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike, prompting the organisation to suspend operations after three staff members were killed and a vehicle was destroyed.
Meanwhile, new Israeli legislation will ban the operations of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) in Israel and occupied territories from 28 January.
So, what will happen when those delivering life-saving aid can no longer do their job?
On Tuesday morning’s episode of The Briefing, we sat down with Australian-born Roger Hearn, UNRWA’s Director of Relief and Social Services.
Hearn, who lived and worked in Gaza for years as an aid worker, has just returned from the region.
Since 7 October, the UN reports that 249 UNRWA staff have been killed—roughly one in 50 employees—a devastating toll that underscores the risks aid workers face daily.
Hearn warned of the profound impact of the UNRWA ban, which could force the collapse of critical services in Gaza, where the population relies heavily on international aid.
He shared a shocking moment from his time there: “You see children literally going through garbage, like literally going through garbage, and there are piles and piles of trash.”
“We still have around 450 trucks of that aid sitting in the Sinai months and months later, literally sitting there, and some of that food is starting to go off, which is just devastating,” Hearn said.
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