A record number of aid workers were killed in global hotspots in 2024 : NPR
The smoke rises in the sky after an air strike from the Israeli army in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on August 18, 2025.
Mariam Dagga / AP
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Mariam Dagga / AP
United Nations – A record of 383 humanitarian workers was killed in global hot spots in 2024, almost half of them in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas, the United Nations humanitarian office said on Tuesday the annual day in honor of the thousands of people who enter crises to help others.
The UN humanitarian leader Tom Fletcher said that the record number of murders should be alarm to protect civilians taken in conflicts and all those who try to help them.
“Attacks against this scale, without responsibility, are an act of ignorance of international inaction and apathy,” said Fletcher in a statement on World Humanitarian Day. “As a humanitarian community, we demand – once again – that people with power and influence act for humanity, protected civilians and humanitarian workers and hold the authors to account.”
The assistance worker safety database, which has compiled reports since 1997, said that the number of murders increased from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024, including more than 180 in Gaza.
Most of the humanitarian workers killed were national staff serving their communities who were attacked during work or at home, according to the United Nations Bureau for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA.
So far this year, the figures have not shown any sign of a reversal of the upward trend, said OCHA.
There were 599 major attacks affecting humanitarian workers last year, a strong increase compared to 420 in 2023, according to database figures. The attacks in 2024 also injured 308 humanitarian workers and given 125 kidnapped and 45 detainees.
There have been 245 major attacks in the last seven months and 265 humanitarian workers have been killed, according to the database.
Nearly 400 humanitarian workers were killed last year.
Kevin S. Vineys / AP
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Kevin S. Vineys / AP
One of the deadliest and most horrible attacks this year took place in the city of southern Gaza in Rafah when Israeli troops opened fire before dawn on March 23, killing 15 doctors and emergency stakeholders in clearly marked vehicles. The troops bulldozer the bodies with their mutilated vehicles, buried them in a mass tomb. The UN and the rescuers could not reach the site until a week later.
“Even an attack on a humanitarian colleague is an attack on us all and against the people we serve,” said Fletcher of the UN. “Violence against humanitarian workers is not inevitable. It must end.”
According to the database, violence against humanitarian workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared to the previous year, with government forces and affiliates the most common authors.
The largest number of major attacks last year was in the Palestinian territories with 194, followed by Sudan with 64, South Sudan with 47, Nigeria with 31 and Congo with 27, reported the database.
As for the murders, Sudan, where the civil war is still in rage, was second behind Gaza and the West Bank with 60 humanitarian workers by losing their lives in 2024. It was more than 25 deaths per workers in 2023.
Lebanon, where militants of Israel and Hezbollah fought a war last year, saw 20 humanitarian workers killed compared to none in 2023. Ethiopia and Syria each had 14 murders, about double the number in 2023, and Ukraine was killed in 2024, against 6 in 2023, according to the database.
