The greatest number of attacks on humanitarian workers were on Palestinian territory, followed by Sudan, says the UN.
The United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher published an “shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy” because he shared statistics on the murder of 383 assistance workers last year in the world, almost half in Gaza.
Marking World Humanitarian Day on Tuesday, Fletcher said that killings increased by 31% compared to the previous year, “led by incessant conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.
“Even an attack on a humanitarian colleague is an attack on us all and against the people we serve,” said Fletcher. “Attacks on this scale without responsibility are a shameful act of reduction in international inaction and apathy.”
The UN said that most people killed were local staff and have been attacked in the exercise of their functions or their homes.
“As a humanitarian community, we demand – once again – that those who have power and influence act for humanity, protected civilians and humanitarian workers and tend the authors to account,” said Fletcher, who is the United Nations Under -Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Rescue Coordinator.
This year’s toll
The assistant workers’ security database, which has compiled United Nations reports since 1997, said the number of murders increased from 293 in 2023.
Provisional figures for this year’s database show that 265 humanitarian workers were killed on August 14.
One of Deadliest attacks This year took place in the city of southern Gaza in Rafah when Israeli troops opened fire before dawn on March 23, killing 15 doctors and emergency workers traveling in clearly marked vehicles.
The Israeli army has led bulldozers on bodies and emergency vehicles and buried them in a mass tomb. The UN and the rescuers could not reach the site until a week later.
The UN reiterated that attacks on humanitarian workers and their operations violate international humanitarian law and damage living lines supporting millions of people trapped in war and disaster areas.
“Violence against humanitarian workers is not inevitable. It must end,” said Fletcher.
Other part
Lebanon, which beat Israel in a war with Hezbollah last year, saw 20 humanitarian workers killed, against none in 2023.
Ethiopia and Syria each had 14 murders, about double their number in 2023, and Ukraine killed 13 humanitarian workers in 2024, against six in 2023, according to the database.
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said it has checked more than 800 attacks on health care in 16 territories so far this year with more than 1,110 health worn and hundreds injured.
“Each attack inflicts sustainable damage, deprives whole communities of rescue care when they need it most, endangers health care providers and already weakens health systems that have already been tense,” said darkness.
World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when the head of the United Nations Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarian workers were killed in a bombing of the UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.