Dubai Humanitarian launches film highlighting $48m global aid effort

Premiering today on World Humanitarian Day, Coming Together: The Dubai Humanitarian Story offers a rare look inside the Dubai-based logistics hub that stores and dispatches life-saving supplies to crisis zones worldwide

Dubai Humanitarian, the world’s largest humanitarian logistics centre, has launched a new documentary offering a behind-the-scenes look at its disaster response operations.

The film, Coming Together: The Dubai Humanitarian Story, premiered today via the organisation’s YouTube channel. 

It follows Dubai Humanitarian’s work with United Nations agencies, international NGOs and government partners in responding to crises including floods in Pakistan and the conflict in Gaza.

Dubai Humanitarian’s warehouses span 150,000 square metres and were donated by the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The facility enables supplies such as vaccines, health kits and clean water to be deployed within hours to crisis zones.

The film highlights the role of key partners including Dubai Customs, Emirates Airline and Dubai Royal Air Wing. 

According to the organisation, their expertise in customs clearance, logistics and airlift capacity has been “vital in overcoming the most complex humanitarian challenges.” It also presents the experiences of aid workers, customs officials and airline crews working together on the ground.

“Dubai Humanitarian is more than a logistics hub – it’s a global lifeline,” Giuseppe Saba, chief executive of Dubai Humanitarian, said today. “This film shows what’s possible when the world comes together.”

Saba added: “2025 continues to bring extraordinary global challenges. Working alongside our UN partners and other relief organisations, in just the first half of the year Dubai Humanitarian facilitated the delivery of over $48 million in aid to countries across the globe, with the need for shelter and health aid being particularly striking. We remain steadfast in our commitment to stand with our international humanitarian community in safeguarding the most vulnerable.”

In the first six months of 2025, Dubai Humanitarian distributed aid worth $48.8 million to 81 countries, according to its Humanitarian Logistics Databank. Of this, $14 million comprised health-related supplies, $1 million water and sanitation support, and $15 million shelter materials including 937,377 tents and winterisation kits.

The hub reported a stock value of $208.1 million as of June 2025. Among the operations, April saw the 25th Dubai Humanitarian airlift for Gaza, when 56.8 metric tonnes of medical supplies worth over $1 million, provided by the World Health Organization, were flown to El Arish Airport in Egypt.

The databank offers real-time analytics of aid stock levels to governments and agencies, with daily updates to streamline coordination. It allows aid agencies to prepare for demand surges, manage costs, and reduce reliance on last-minute purchasing.

Dubai Humanitarian said the databank had helped anticipate increased demand for tents and blankets during Bangladesh’s monsoon season, enabling agencies to build stocks in advance. It has also allowed the hub to expand cold storage capacity in line with rising demand for health products, preparations that supported the Covid-19 response.

Dubai’s geographical location, 10 minutes from Jebel Ali seaport and Al Maktoum airport, allows aid to reach two-thirds of the world’s disaster-prone population within four to eight hours. Dubai Humanitarian said this reduces travel distances, costs and carbon emissions.

As the databank expands to include up to 11 hubs, the organisation said countries and agencies would be able to locate aid closer to crisis zones, further cutting transit times and emissions.

Sajeda Shawa, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the UAE, said: “We need to make sure humanitarian aid is delivered based on humanitarian principles – with no discrimination and with equality. Being the voice of those who have no voice is not a luxury – it’s a responsibility, an honour and a life calling.”

Main image: Aid supplies being loaded on to an Emirates flight. Photo: Dubai Humanitarian