GENEVA: Aid worker killings rose nearly a third to almost 400 last year, the most deadly year since records began in 1997, and the conflict in Gaza is continuing to cause high death rates for humanitarian staff in 2025, U.N. and other data showed. In 2024, 383 aid workers were killed, nearly half of them in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, the UN said on Tuesday, citing a database. "Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy," said Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, in a statement.
So far this year, 265 aid workers have been killed, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database, a US-funded platform that compiles reports on major security incidents affecting aid workers. Of those, 173 were in Gaza in Israel's near two-year offensive against the Palestinian enclave, launched after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attacks, the provisional data showed. This year, 36 aid workers have so far been killed in Sudan and three in Ukraine, the database showed.
In one incident in Gaza that drew international condemnation, 15 emergency and aid workers were killed by Israeli fire in three separate shootings in March, before being buried in a shallow grave. Israel's military said in April that the incidents resulted from an "operational misunderstanding" and a "breach of orders". There had been "several professional failures" and a commander would be dismissed, it said.
Aid workers enjoy protection under international humanitarian law but experts cite few precedents for such cases going to trial, with concerns about ensuring future access for aid groups and difficulty proving intent cited as impediments. "It is catastrophic, and the trend is going in the opposite direction of what it should," said Jens Laerke, UN humanitarian office spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Cyprus has dispatched 1,200 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid for Gaza by sea via Ashdod in Israel, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The pre-screened cargo would be transferred without additional security checks on arrival in Ashdod and with international humanitarian organisation World Central Kitchen the final contractor and distributor, the Cyprus Foreign Ministry said. "The entire undertaking is under the auspices of the UN delivery mechanism," it said.
Gaza has been devastated by Israel's nearly two-year-long military assault, which has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ground and air war has also created a hunger crisis, with aid encountering significant delays. More than 200 Gazans have died of malnutrition or starvation in the war, according to health authorities.
Cyprus and Malta contributed the bulk of aid, and there were contributions from organisations from the United States, Italy, the Sovereign Order of Malta and Kuwait. Input of the United Arab Emirates to the operation was essential, Cyprus said. The east Mediterranean island has been used to transit aid to Gaza in the past. Facilities on the island remained at the disposal of the international community as an additional humanitarian channel, the foreign ministry said. Discussions are currently underway for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza after previous talks ended in deadlock in late July.
On the ground, there were no signs of a ceasefire nearing as Israeli gunfire, tank shelling and air strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians on Tuesday, according to Gaza health officials. Tanks completed taking control of the Zeitoun suburb, an eastern neighbourhood on Gaza City's outskirts, and continued to pound the nearby area of Sabra, killing two women and a man, medics said. Local health authorities said dozens of people had been trapped in their houses because of the shelling. The Israeli military said it was checking the report. — Reuters
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