Palestinian civil defense teams unearth a mass grave at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, on April 20, 2024. (Via X)

United Nations, August 20 (RHC)--  More than 400 humanitarian organizations have written to the UN General Assembly to call for protecting civilians and aid workers as Israel continues its relentless air and artillery strikes against Palestinians across the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a joint letter addressed to the General Assembly, at least 413 humanitarian and aid agencies wrote that the civilians and aid workers had become the principal victims in Gaza and other active conflicts that persist around the world.

“The brutal hostilities we are seeing in multiple conflicts around the world have exposed a terrible truth: We are living in an era of impunity,” they wrote. “This status quo is shameful and cannot continue.”

Elsewhere in the letter, they wrote that fatalities among humanitarian workers doubled in 2023 compared with the previous year and that the 2024 fatalities are already “staggering”.

The letter was published by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the highest-level humanitarian coordination platform of the UN System.

The death toll from more than 10 months of the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza has already surpassed the grim milestone of 40,000.  The majority of those killed in Israeli strikes are innocent women and children.