Record 383 aid workers killed in 2024, nearly half in Gaza: UN

A record 383 aid workers were killed worldwide in 2024, nearly half of them in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, the UN said today (19 August), marking World Humanitarian Day with a grim warning about rising risks for those delivering lifesaving help.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the surge in killings must serve as a 'wake-up call' to protect civilians and those working to assist them.

"Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy," Fletcher said. 

"We call on leaders to protect civilians and aid workers, and to hold perpetrators accountable," he added.

According to the Aid Worker Security Database, fatalities rose from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024, including more than 180 in Gaza. Most victims were national staff serving their own communities, often killed at work or in their homes, the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

The database recorded 599 major attacks on aid workers last year, up sharply from 420 in 2023. Those incidents also left 308 wounded, 125 kidnapped, and 45 detained. Already in 2025, 245 major attacks have been logged, with 265 deaths.

One of the deadliest incidents came on 23 March in Rafah, southern Gaza, when Israeli troops reportedly fired on medics and rescue workers in marked vehicles, killing 15 and later bulldozing the bodies into a mass grave.

Sudan was the second-deadliest country after Gaza and the West Bank, with 60 aid workers killed in 2024, more than double the previous year. Other hotspots included Lebanon (20 deaths, up from none in 2023), Ethiopia and Syria (14 each), and Ukraine (13, compared with 6 the year before).

"Even one attack on a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us," Fletcher stressed. "Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end."