IFRC president Kate Forbes and Ali Saad, a staff member from the Lebanese Red Cross Society, survey the damage cause by ongoing conflict in the southern coastal town of Tyre.
IFRC president Kate Forbes and Ali Saad, a staff member from the Lebanese Red Cross Society, survey the damage cause by ongoing conflict in the southern coastal town of Tyre.
IFRC president Kate Forbes and Ali Saad, a staff member from the Lebanese Red Cross Society, survey the damage cause by ongoing conflict in the southern coastal town of Tyre.
Photo: Liana Ghukasyan/IFRC
Twelve months after her last visit, the IFRC president returns to the border between Egypt and Gaza to find people in even more dire circumstances and humanitarians working harder than ever to keep hope alive.
By Kate Forbes, President of IFRC
The road to Rafah stretches through history, through heartbreak, and through the resilience of those who live at its edges. This was my second visit to Rafah—a key border-crossing point between Egypt and Gaza—since I became President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
My first visit was in February last year, when the crisis had already reached unbearable levels. I had hoped to find a different situation upon my return. But when we arrived, the reality was painfully familiar.
During my first visit, the first thing I noticed was the line of trucks—packed with supplies that the people of Gaza desperately needed but could only receive in painstaking trickles.
This time, a year later, there were fewer trucks backed up at the border as, during the first days of the ceasefire, the Egyptian Red Crescent had managed to get more aid into Gaza.
The aid was still far too little to meet the enormous needs but it allowed the Palestine Red Crescent to deliver critical supplies and services. Sadly, on 2 March, the border crossing was once again closed to aid deliveries.
Quiet determination, eroding hope
The second thing I have witnessed at the Rafah border crossing is the quiet determination of the Egyptian Red Crescent staff and volunteers, working tirelessly to sort, coordinate, and push as much aid forward as possible.
Their work is invisible to many, but without them, the humanitarian pipeline would collapse. They are the silent hands trying to stitch together the pieces of broken lives.
Twelve months ago, the humanitarian situation in Gaza was already dire. It was a place of limited movement, of blockades, of recurring violence that flared and receded, leaving deeper scars each time. But there was still a semblance of hope—a belief that things could change.
That belief has eroded. Today, the people in Gaza are trapped—not only by physical borders but by political and geopolitical constraints. The recent escalation of the conflict has not only reshaped the landscape of destruction but has fundamentally altered lives across the region.
In South Lebanon, tension has escalated, turning daily life into a precarious existence where the next escalation could come at any moment.
In Egypt, the border town of Rafah has become an unwilling witness to one of the most protracted humanitarian blockades of our time. Moreover, Egypt has become a safe harbor for those fleeing conflict, violence, and other humanitarian crises. Today, it is home to hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes in search of safety and dignity—Palestinians from Gaza, Sudanese escaping a devastating armed conflict, and Syrians displaced by over a decade of conflict.
For the people of Gaza, the struggle is no longer just about survival—it is about holding on to their humanity in a world that often seems to have forgotten them.
What has changed in 12 months? The scale of suffering has grown. Hopes for peace have faded even further. Humanitarian access has become even more difficult.
IFRC president Kate Forbes listens as Dr. Amal Emam, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, explains the situation for humanitarian aid deliveries at the Rafah border.
IFRC president Kate Forbes listens as Dr. Amal Emam, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, explains the situation for humanitarian aid deliveries at the Rafah border.
IFRC president Kate Forbes listens as Dr. Amal Emam, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, explains the situation for humanitarian aid deliveries at the Rafah border.
Photo: Egyptian Red Crescent Society
Serving humanity against all odds
What has not changed is the resilience of our Red Cross and Red Crescent teams.
In the face of these multiple, overlapping humanitarian crises, our volunteers and staff continue, against all odds, to serve and to stand at the gates of crisis, refusing to turn their backs on those in need. They continue to demonstrate extraordinary courage, professionalism, and humanity.
In South Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross staff continues to respond to the mounting needs of communities affected by rising tensions, providing emergency medical services, and support to those displaced.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territorties (OPT), our Palestine Red Crescent teams continue to work under unimaginable conditions, providing life-saving care and support to communities shattered by violence and loss.
On the other side of the border, the Egyptian Red Crescent plays a vital role in sustaining the humanitarian response. The National Society's dedicated teams coordinate the flow of aid, support displaced people, and ensure that hope continues to cross into Gaza even when the borders are closed.
But our National Societies have not stood alone. The IFRC network has always been by their side. Since the outset of the escalation of hostilities, the IFRC has provided emergency funding and medical supplies, deployed technical expertise, coordinated logistics and ensured that humanitarian diplomacy amplifies the needs of those in vulnerable situations.
Today, we face a challenge not only of responding to immediate needs, but of sustaining our support over time while ensuring safety of our teams in Gaza. Humanitarian fatigue is real. Resources are stretched. The crises are multiplying. Yet the needs are growing by the day.
As I return from these travels, I keep thinking of the words of an Egyptian Red Crescent staff member: “We don’t have an exit strategy. We are from these communities, and we stand with the people of our communities for as long as they need us.”
This is the essence and spirit of our National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies—something I witness in all my visits, something that makes our IFRC network so unique and so deeply human.