A record 383 humanitarian workers were killed in conflict zones in 2024, nearly half of them in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said while marking World Humanitarian Day on Tuesday.
OCHA described the unprecedented toll as “a wake-up call” on the urgent need to protect civilians in armed conflicts. The trend shows no sign of improvement in 2025, with 265 humanitarian workers killed as of August 14.
The Palestinian territories recorded the highest number of major incidents in 2024 with 194, followed by Sudan (64), South Sudan (47), Nigeria (31) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (27). More than 180 humanitarian staff were killed in Gaza alone.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said about 360 of the agency’s staff members were killed in Gaza, several while on duty, while around 50 others were arrested or detained.
Escalating global violence
In total, 599 major attacks targeted humanitarian workers in 2024, up from 420 in 2023. These attacks left 308 injured, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained.
Other countries with the highest number of humanitarian fatalities included Sudan (60, more than double the 2023 figure), Lebanon (20, compared to none in 2023), Ethiopia and Syria (14 each), and Ukraine (13).
“Attacks of this magnitude, coupled with a complete lack of accountability, are a damning indictment of international inaction and indifference,” said UN Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for concrete measures to protect aid workers and end impunity. “An attack on humanitarians is an attack on humanity,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 2,450 attacks on healthcare services between January 2024 and August 2025 across 21 countries, leaving 2,060 people dead and 2,395 injured among medical staff and patients.
ARD/ac/lb/as/APA