World Humanitarian Day 2026: Women Leading Humanitarian Action in Gaza
As we mark World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, we are spotlighting two extraordinary Palestinian women who are leading humanitarian action on the frontlines of one of the world’s most severe and complex humanitarian crises. Meet Buthaina Subeh and Sahar Yaghi -two women leaders leading women organizations in Gaza and partners of ActionAid Palestine. Their model of leading humanitarian response reflects the fact that humanitarian leadership is not something that begins after a crisis. In Gaza, women like Buthaina and Sahar are leading through the crisis, from within their communities and alongside the people they serve.
For them, humanitarian work is not simply a profession. It is an act of courage, solidarity, responsibility and leadership. Throughout the war, Buthaina, Founder and Executive Director of Wefaq Society for Women and Child Care, and Sahar, the head of the board of trustees of Palestinian Development Women Studies Association (PDWSA), have continued to lead their organizations and support women, children and families despite extraordinary challenges.
Their own lives have been profoundly affected by the war. Yet, even amid displacement, loss and the destruction of their offices and resources, they have continued to show up for their communities, mobilizing support, maintaining services and ensuring that humanitarian assistance reaches those who need it most.
This is what their local humanitarian leadership looks like. It means responding to immediate needs while understanding the deeper realities facing communities. It means creating spaces where women can access psychosocial support, protection and economic assistance. It means supporting families struggling to access food and basic necessities. And it means continuing to listen to communities and adapt humanitarian action to what people actually need.
Through PDWSA, Sahar and her colleagues work to strengthen women through economic empowerment, psychosocial support and social empowerment, while also supporting small business initiatives and youth and community initiatives. For Sahar, the humanitarian crisis cannot be separated from the growing vulnerability of women. Across Gaza, women have faced the destruction of livelihoods, loss of income and increasing responsibility for providing for their families. Many women have become sole providers, while women living in displacement sites and camps continue to face enormous challenges in securing food.
She describes the responsibility of local organizations clearly: “These women are unable to provide food for their families, making it the responsibility of Palestinian organizations to support them and provide essential assistance”. That responsibility is translated into action every day. Sahar and her team have continued delivering assistance to women across Gaza, including food and fresh vegetable parcels supported by the DEC, ActionAid and other partners.
For Buthaina and her team at Wefaq, humanitarian leadership similarly means remaining rooted in the community and continuing to provide support to women and children, including survivors of violence, despite the immense pressures created by the war.
Their leadership demonstrates something fundamental: humanitarian response is strongest when it is led by people who understand the communities they serve, are accountable to them and remain alongside them through the crisis.
Buthaina says: “‘If women aren’t at the heart of humanitarian response planning, there will be no results.’ ‘Only a woman can truly feel what another woman’s situation is, what her needs are, and what she requires”.
In Gaza, this leadership happens far beyond humanitarian meeting rooms and conference halls. It happens in displacement sites and community spaces. It happens when women leaders mobilize assistance for families who have lost their livelihoods. It happens when psychosocial support is provided to someone struggling to cope. It happens when organizations continue operating after their offices and resources have been destroyed.
And it happens when humanitarian workers themselves are experiencing displacement and loss yet continue to stand beside others.
Buthaina and Sahar represent a wider generation of Palestinian women leaders who are shaping humanitarian response while living through the very crisis they are responding to.
Their work challenges the idea that local communities are simply recipients of humanitarian aid. They are leaders, decision-makers, organizers and responders.
On World Humanitarian Day 2026, we honour Buthaina, Sahar and all the Palestinian women humanitarian workers who continue to lead with courage, dignity and solidarity.
They are not waiting for permission to lead. They are leading now.
And their leadership must be at the heart of humanitarian action.
About ActionAid International
ActionAid International is a global federation working with over 41 million people living in more than 72 of the world's poorest countries. We envision a world characterized by justice and sustainability, where every individual has the right to a dignified life and freedom, and a world free from poverty and oppression. We strive to achieve social justice, gender equality, and eradicate poverty.
ActionAid Palestine began its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of the Palestinian people, believing in their right to enjoy freedom, justice, and self-determination. ActionAid Palestine implements several programs through its engagement with Palestinian communities and youth and women’s groups, aiming to empower women and youth and enhance their active civil and political participation to understand their rights and undertake collective action to address the rights violations resulting from the prolonged occupation, in addition to improving their leadership capacity and practicing their citizenship in holding authorities and other duty bearers accountable.
For more information, please contact:
Riham Jafari
Communication and Advocacy Officer at ActionAid Palestine
Email: Riham.Jafari@actionaid.org