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The Turkish Red Crescent on Monday urged the international community to protect humanitarian workers worldwide, citing attacks on aid staff in Gaza and issuing a five-point emergency appeal to the embassies of United Nations Security Council member states in Türkiye.
President Fatma Meric Yilmaz said safeguarding aid and medical personnel is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law and called for immediate measures to stop the violence. She recommended the deployment of a multinational Humanitarian Observatory and Protection mission to ensure humanitarian workers can operate safely without threat, attack, or obstruction.
Yilmaz’s appeal outlined five urgent measures: an immediate cease-fire and protection of civilians; guaranteed access for U.N. agencies and neutral humanitarian actors; appointment of impartial monitors; protection of aid staff through a multinational mission; and activation of the U.N. General Assembly if the Security Council is deadlocked.
World Humanitarian Day, observed annually on Aug. 19, honors aid workers who risk their lives in conflict and disaster zones. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies adopted the theme “Protect Humanity” this year amid a surge in attacks on humanitarian personnel.
According to the Turkish Red Crescent, 168 aid workers were killed globally in the first half of 2025. In Gaza, at least 508 humanitarian staff, including 346 from the U.N. and 51 from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, have died since Oct. 7, 2023.
“Gaza’s plight is not simply a humanitarian emergency—it is a test of our shared commitment to upholding the most basic norms of humanity and legality in armed conflict,” Yilmaz said.
World Humanitarian Day was established to honor the 22 aid workers killed in the Aug. 19, 2003, bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
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