The United Nations marked World Humanitarian Day this week with grim statistics: a record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024 while performing their lifesaving jobs. Nearly half of them—181—were killed in Gaza, where Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged enclave has devastated civilians, healthcare staff, journalists, and humanitarian workers.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that killings of aid workers rose 31% compared to 2023, when 293 were killed. The agency described the toll as “shocking” but not surprising given the scale of violence in Gaza and other conflict zones.
“Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. “Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy.”
Israel and its allies, including the United States, have continued to assert that its military campaign is aimed at Hamas. Yet the consequences have been devastating for those working to protect and sustain civilian life. More than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which says the true toll is likely far higher. Israel has repeatedly described its strikes on humanitarian workers and other protected personnel as “accidental.”
The international community has not been convinced. “Every attack is a grave betrayal of humanity, and the rules designed to protect them and the communities they serve,” Fletcher said. “Each killing sends a dangerous message that their lives were expendable. They were not.”
Among the most high-profile cases was the April 2024 strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy, which killed seven aid workers and drew condemnation from governments and rights groups across the globe. In March 2025, Israeli forces opened fire before dawn in Rafah, killing 15 medics and emergency responders in clearly marked vehicles. Troops then bulldozed over the bodies and the destroyed ambulances, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers only reached the site a week later.
Eight of the aid workers killed this year were members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society. “Palestinian humanitarian workers have been deliberately targeted more than anywhere else,” the group said. Its president, Younis Alkhatib, added: “No state should be above the law. The international community is obliged to protect humanitarians and to stop impunity.”
The pattern of killings in Gaza stands out even amid a global surge in attacks on aid workers. Sudan’s ongoing civil war claimed the lives of 60 humanitarian staff in 2024, more than double the number killed there the previous year. In Lebanon, where Israel fought Hezbollah militants, 20 aid workers were killed compared with none in 2023. Other deadly contexts included Ethiopia, Syria, and Ukraine, which each saw aid worker killings nearly double compared to the year before.
The Aid Worker Security Database, which has tracked incidents since 1997, reported 599 major attacks affecting aid workers in 2024, up from 420 in 2023. Along with the 383 killed, 308 were injured, 125 kidnapped, and 45 detained. Already in 2025, provisional figures show at least 265 humanitarian staff killed in the first seven months.
For those on the ground, the dangers are constant. “I think as a humanitarian, I feel powerless sometimes in Gaza because I know what it is that we can do as humanitarians when we’re enabled to do so, both here in Gaza and in any other humanitarian crisis,” said Olga Cherevko of OCHA. “We continue to face massive impediments for delivering aid at scale, when our missions are delayed, when our missions lasted 12, 14, 18 hours; the routes that we’re given are dangerous, impassible, or inaccessible.”
Israel has blocked the United Nations and other aid agencies with long-standing operations in the occupied Palestinian territories from delivering food, medicine, and other lifesaving supplies in recent months. Humanitarian officials warn that the blockade has pushed Gaza toward famine.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued its own statement, emphasizing that aid workers’ dedication is not enough to protect them. “Our colleagues continue to show up not because they are fearless, but because the suffering is too urgent to ignore. Yet, courage is not protection, and dedication does not deflect bullets. The rules of war are clear: Humanitarian personnel must be respected and protected. Every attack is a grave betrayal of humanity, and the rules designed to protect them and the communities they serve. Each killing sends a dangerous message that their lives were expendable. They were not.”
The UN Security Council passed a resolution in May 2024 reaffirming that humanitarian staff must be protected in conflict zones, but OCHA noted more than a year later that “the lack of accountability remains pervasive.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the scale of the crisis on Tuesday. “Humanitarian workers around the world are the last lifeline for over 300 million people” living in disaster and conflict zones, he said. What is missing as “red lines are crossed with impunity,” he added, is “political will—and moral courage.”
“Humanitarians must be respected and protected,” Guterres said. “They can never be targeted.”
Fletcher echoed the call for action: “Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.”
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