‘Shameful’: UN says 383 aid workers killed last year, nearly half in Gaza

The highest fig of attacks connected assistance workers was successful Palestinian territory, followed by Sudan, the UN says.

United Nations humanitarian main Tom Fletcher has issued a “shameful indictment of planetary inaction and apathy” arsenic helium has shared statistic connected the sidesplitting of 383 assistance workers past twelvemonth worldwide, astir fractional successful Gaza.

Marking World Humanitarian Day connected Tuesday, Fletcher said the killings roseate by 31 percent from the twelvemonth before, “driven by the relentless conflicts successful Gaza, wherever 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and successful Sudan, wherever 60 mislaid their lives”.

“Even 1 onslaught against a humanitarian workfellow is an onslaught connected each of america and connected the radical we serve,” Fletcher said. “Attacks connected this standard with zero accountability are a shameful indictment of planetary inaction and apathy.”

The UN said astir of those killed were section unit and were either attacked successful the enactment of work oregon successful their homes.

“As the humanitarian community, we request – again – that those with powerfulness and power enactment for humanity, support civilians and assistance workers and clasp perpetrators to account,” said Fletcher, who is the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and exigency alleviation coordinator.

This year’s toll

The Aid Worker Security Database, which has compiled UN reports since 1997, said the fig of killings roseate from 293 successful 2023.

Provisional figures from the database for this twelvemonth amusement 265 assistance workers person been killed arsenic of August 14.

One of the deadliest attacks this twelvemonth took spot successful the confederate Gaza metropolis of Rafah erstwhile Israeli troops opened occurrence earlier dawn connected March 23, sidesplitting 15 medics and exigency responders travelling successful intelligibly marked vehicles.

The Israeli service drove bulldozers implicit the bodies and the exigency vehicles and buried them successful a wide grave. UN and rescue workers were capable to scope the tract lone a week later.

The UN reiterated that attacks connected assistance workers and their operations interruption planetary humanitarian instrumentality and harm the lifelines sustaining millions of radical trapped successful warfare and catastrophe zones.

“Violence against assistance workers is not inevitable. It indispensable end,” Fletcher said.

Elsewhere

Lebanon, which Israel battered successful a war with Hezbollah past year, saw 20 assistance workers killed, compared with nary successful 2023.

Ethiopia and Syria each had 14 killings, astir treble their numbers successful 2023, and Ukraine had 13 assistance workers killed successful 2024, up from six successful 2023, according to the database.

Meanwhile, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) said it verified much than 800 attacks connected healthcare successful 16 territories truthful acold this twelvemonth with much than 1,110 wellness workers and patients killed and hundreds injured.

“Each onslaught inflicts lasting harm, deprives full communities of lifesaving attraction erstwhile they request it the most, endangers healthcare providers and weakens already strained wellness systems,” the WHO said.

World Humanitarian Day marks the time successful 2003 erstwhile UN rights main Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 different humanitarians were killed successful a bombing of UN office successful Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.