United Nations (AP) – 383 aid workers were killed in a global hotspot in 2024, almost half of which Gaza during the war Between Israel and Hamas, the UN Humanitarian Agency said Tuesday on the yearly day honoured the thousands of people who stepped into crisis to help others.
UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher said the record number of killings should be an alarming call to protect civilians caught up in the conflict and all those trying to help them.
“Attacks on this scale of zero accountability are a shameful indictment of international omission and indifference,” Fletcher said in a statement on the World Humanitarian Day. “As a humanitarian community, we require that people of power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians, assist workers, and explain the perpetrators.”
The AID Worker Security database, which has been compiling the report since 1997, shows the number of murders from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024. Over 180 in Gaza.
Most of the killed aid workers were national staff serving communities attacked at work and at home, according to the United Nations office for Coordinating Humanitarian Cooperation, known as OCHA.
So far, the numbers show no signs of a reversal of the upward trend, Ocha said.
There were 599 major attacks affecting aid workers last year, rising sharply from 420 in 2023, database figures show. The 2024 attack also injured 308 aid workers, showing 125 tricks and 45 detention.
According to the database, there have been 245 major attacks over the past seven months, killing 265 aid workers.
This year, one of the deadliest and most horrifying attacks in the city of Rafa, south of Rafa, took place when Israeli forces fired before dawn on March 23rd. Kill 15 Medics and emergency responders With clearly marked vehicles. The troops bulldozed their bodies along with the broken vehicles and buried them in the tombs of the masses. The UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later.
“Even one attack on our humanitarian colleagues is an attack on all of us and the people we serve,” said Fletcher of the United Nations. “Violence against aid workers is inevitable. It must end.”
According to the database, violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared to the previous year, with government forces and affiliates being the most common perpetrators.
The most major attacks of last year were in Palestinian territory in 194, and since then 64 Sudan47 South Sudan, Nigeria, 31, and Congo, 27, reported by the database.
As for the killings, Sudan, where civil war is still raging, lost 60 aid workers in 2024, more than twice the deaths of 25 aid workers in 2023.
Lebanon, Where Israel and Hezbollah militants fought the war Last year, in 2023, 20 aid workers died compared to anyone. Ethiopia and Syria each killed 14 people, about doubled in 2023, and Ukraine was killed in 2024, six in 2023.
