Dr. Younis Awadallah, a paediatrician approaching 70, does not hesitate when asked why he returned to the field, “Humanitarian work cannot be retired.”

After a 43-year career spanning Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Awadallah officially retired in 2021. But when Gaza’s crisis deepened and polio re-emerged, he decided retirement would have to wait. For him, returning was not just a professional duty; it was, as he describes it, “a message of loyalty” to his calling, to the children of Gaza, and to the institution that shaped his career.

Driven by what he calls a “deep inner sense of responsibility and belonging,” he explained, “I felt that my long experience and field knowledge could make a difference in these critical times.”

‘The Silent Threat to Gaza’

Dr. Awadallah’s story is central to the UNICEF documentary The Silent Threat to Gaza, released to mark World Humanitarian Day on August 19. The 32-minute film follows him and colleague Fairuz Abu Warda as they carry out a lifesaving vaccination drive during brief ceasefires, delivering polio vaccines to children across the Strip.

UNICEF said their courage highlights a crucial truth: when humanitarian principles are respected, when workers are granted safe and timely access, lives can be saved, even in the most fragile environments.

Named in May to Time magazine’s TIME100 Health list for leading a campaign that vaccinated 600,000 children, Dr. Awadallah embodies that principle.

He recalled the harsh realities of the campaign, working through exhaustion, hunger, and fear under constant bombardment. Yet, he said, the priority remained clear: keeping vaccines effective and reaching every child.

“I saw colleagues collapse from exhaustion, only to stand up and continue working,” he remembered.

 Living testimony to willpower

Every moment in the campaign, from a child’s smile to the determination of teams pushing through security risks, reaffirmed his conviction that “humanitarian work cannot be retired.”

“The Silent Threat to Gaza was not just a film or a depiction of events, but a living testimony to the strength of will and the power of hope,” he said.

For him, each scene carried a message to the world: that “despite the wounds, despite the death and the hardship, Gaza can rise and protect its children.

Protecting humanitarian workers ‘not a luxury’

Despite the risks, he and his colleagues continue to work under relentless bombardment. “Fear knows no way to our hearts,” he said. “We hear the explosions and then we go to do our work. We are used to it.”

According to Dr. Awadallah, more than 350 medical personnel in Gaza have been killed, hundreds wounded, and over 1,300 arrested. He urged the world to recognize that protecting humanitarian workers “is not a luxury, but a prerequisite for ensuring that life and hope reach those in need.”

Decades of experience, he said, taught him that human beings possess resilience beyond imagination. “Resilience is not the absence of pain and suffering, but the ability to persevere and rise despite tragedies,” he reflected.

He recalled seeing mothers smile at their children despite bleeding wounds, and patients confronting agony with hope. For him, the role of humanitarian workers extends beyond medicine and material aid to “promoting and instilling hope, supporting people psychologically, and helping them endure.”

On World Humanitarian Day, he paid tribute to those who choose to walk toward danger rather than away from it. “We are throwing ourselves into perdition for the sake of others,” he said.

“Humanitarian workers in Gaza and everywhere are witnesses that mercy knows no borders, and that solidarity can flourish even amid war and rubble,” he stressed.

Who is Dr. Younis R. Awadallah?

Born and raised in Gaza, Dr. Younis R. Awadallah is a public health expert with more than four decades of experience in maternal and child health, immunization, and early childhood development.

From 2010 to 2021, he served as a Health Specialist with UNICEF in Gaza, playing a pivotal role in strengthening immunization systems, supporting national health strategies, and coordinating emergency response. In 2024, he rejoined UNICEF as a Health Specialist (Vaccination and Cold Chain Manager) to support emergency health interventions.

Dr. Awadallah holds a medical degree from Al-Azhar University and a master’s in public health from Al-Quds University. His lifelong commitment to improving healthcare access has left a lasting mark on some of the most vulnerable communities.

This year, Time magazine included him in its 2025 list of the 100 Most Influential People in Health for his leadership in Gaza’s heroic vaccination campaign.