UN details 137 percent increase in aid workers deaths

The United Nations is reporting a 137% surge in aid worker deaths in 2023 with 2024 being 'worst year' on record.

“Humanitarian workers are being killed in unprecedented numbers. According to available data, 2024 was the worst year on record, with 377 aid workers killed across 20 countries. This was almost 100 more fatalities than in 2023, which already saw a 137 percent increase from 2022.” Joyce Msuya, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, told the UN Security Council.

The attacks come amid Israel's expansion of its fresh ground operation in Gaza, meanwhile the enclave hasn't recieved aid for a month.

The UN is sounding the alarm just days after emergency teams dug up a mass grave holding the bodies of 15 aid workers in Gaza.

They are reported to have been killed by Israel just days earlier while carrying out critical work in the enclave.

Among the bodies recovered from the grave in the southern Rafah area were members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, some belonged to the civil defense, while another was working for the UN.

“These attacks are designed to prevent the UN from helping the most vulnerable, and to prevent them from bearing witness. Impunity for attacks on humanitarian personnel has become the new normal. A pervasive normal. An accepted normal. One perpetuated not only by non-state actors, but also by governments and their proxies.” Gilles Michaud, Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security, told the UN Security Council.

The organisation is mourning the deaths, the UN's Humanitarian Chief, Tom Fletcher, is demanding that the killings end.