Gaza the epicenter of record aid worker deaths in 2024: UN
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The United Nations reported a record 383 humanitarian workers killed in 2024, nearly half in Gaza under systematic Israeli attacks on aid convoys, medics, and relief personnel.
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FILE - United Nations and Red Crescent workers prepare the aid for distribution to Palestinians at an UNRWA warehouse in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, October 23, 2023. (AP)
The United Nations has revealed that 383 humanitarian workers were killed worldwide in 2024, the highest figure ever recorded, with nearly half of those deaths taking place in Gaza under relentless Israeli bombardment.
Marking World Humanitarian Day, UN humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher denounced the scale of the killings, calling them a moral stain on the international community. "Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy," Fletcher said.
"As the humanitarian community, we demand, again, that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account."
The Aid Worker Security Database confirmed that the global toll had risen from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024. More than 180 of those deaths occurred in Gaza, where hospitals, ambulances, and relief convoys came under repeated Israeli fire. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the majority of those killed were Palestinian staff serving their own communities. Many were targeted while performing their duties or even inside their homes.
The violence extended beyond Gaza. In Sudan, 60 humanitarian workers were killed, while in Lebanon, 20 were killed by Israeli aggression. Ethiopia and Syria each recorded 14 fatalities, and in Ukraine, 13 aid workers were killed, more than double the number of the previous year.
Humanitarian workers targeted
One of the deadliest attacks on Gaza took place on March 23, 2024, in Rafah, when Israeli troops attacked a convoy of clearly marked ambulances before dawn. 15 medics and emergency responders were killed, their bodies and vehicles later crushed into a mass grave with bulldozers. Rescue and UN teams were prevented from reaching the site for a week. Fletcher remarked that "even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve. Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end."
The data also showed a dramatic increase in the scale of violence. In 2024 alone, there were 599 major incidents involving aid workers. Beyond the killings, 308 were wounded, 125 were kidnapped, and 45 were detained. OCHA has warned that this dangerous trend has not abated in 2025, with 265 aid workers killed in the first seven months of the year, most of them in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The situation in Gaza has become particularly grave. On August 15, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Palestine urged "Israel" to halt its attacks on Palestinians who guard humanitarian convoys, warning that such strikes violate international law and exacerbate famine.
Since the beginning of August, the UN has documented 11 separate attacks in which at least 46 people were killed, including convoy security personnel and civilians waiting for aid. On August 13 alone, three separate strikes in North Gaza killed eighteen people within hours. Between late May and mid-August, at least 1,760 Palestinians were killed while seeking assistance, nearly half of them near UN food distribution sites.
Engineered starvation exposed
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the number of "aid martyrs" killed while trying to secure aid has climbed to 1,898, with more than 14,000 others injured. Gaza’s Government Media Office accused "Israel" of deliberately manufacturing chaos around aid distribution, preventing relief from reaching warehouses and enforcing what it called a policy of engineered starvation.
Read more: Children wasting away due to Israeli policies: Amnesty
The UN reiterated that civilian police and security staff guarding convoys are protected under international law, as their role in safeguarding humanitarian supplies does not constitute participation in hostilities. As the occupying power, "Israel" is obligated to ensure the safety of civilians in Gaza, yet its actions have repeatedly undermined this responsibility.
Fletcher and other UN officials stressed the urgent need for independent investigations and accountability, warning that without justice, the systematic assault on humanitarian workers risks entrenching the weaponization of starvation and humanitarian collapse as tools of war.
