The killings of aid workers increased by almost a third in 2024, reaching 383 people, the highest number since the statistics began in 1997, Reuters reported, citing UN data, BTA reports.
Nearly half of the casualties are in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, where the conflict continues to take a heavy toll in 2025.
“Attacks of this scale, without any accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy“, said Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
Since the beginning of 2025, 265 aid workers have already been killed, according to preliminary data from the Humanitarian Workers Safety Database. A US-funded platform. Of these, 173 were killed in Gaza during Israel's nearly two-year offensive against “Hamas“. In Sudan, the death toll is 36, and in Ukraine, three.
One of the worst incidents was in March, when 15 aid workers were killed in Gaza by Israeli fire in three separate attacks. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave. The Israeli military said the incident was the result of an “operational misunderstanding” and “several professional failures,” and one commander will be dismissed.
Although aid workers are protected under international law, experts say such crimes rarely lead to accountability. The difficulty of proving intent and concerns about access for future aid missions are among the main obstacles.
“This is catastrophic, and the trend is going in exactly the opposite direction,” warned Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency.