The United Nations said nearly 400 aid workers were killed in 2024, marking a rise of almost one-third and the highest toll since records began in 1997, with the ongoing war in Gaza continuing to drive high casualty rates for humanitarian staff in 2025.
In 2024, 383 aid workers were killed, nearly half of them in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, the U.N. said on Tuesday, citing a database.
“Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy,” said Tom Fletcher, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in a statement.
So far this year, 265 aid workers have been killed, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database, a U.S-funded platform that compiles reports on major security incidents affecting aid workers.
Of those, 173 were in Gaza in Israel’s near two-year offensive against Hamas terrorists, launched after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attacks by Hamas-led terrorists, the provisional data showed.
Grim Statistics
This year, 36 aid workers have so far been killed in Sudan and three in Ukraine, the database showed.
In one incident in Gaza that drew international condemnation, 15 emergency and aid workers were killed by Israeli fire in three separate shootings in March, before being buried in a shallow grave.
This grim statistic underscores not only the rising danger but the erosion of protection for aid workers under international humanitarian law, as acknowledged by U.N. officials.
Israel’s military said in April that the incidents resulted from an “operational misunderstanding” and a “breach of orders”. There had been “several professional failures” and a commander would be dismissed, it said.
Aid workers enjoy protection under international humanitarian law but experts cite few precedents for such cases going to trial, with concerns about ensuring future access for aid groups and difficulty proving intent cited as impediments.
“It is catastrophic, and the trend is going in right the opposite direction of what it should,” said Jens Laerke, U.N. humanitarian office spokesperson.
(With inputs from Reuters)
