A record number of humanitarian workers were killed, injured or kidnapped last year, the United Nations said Wednesday, citing the growing use of armed drones as one driver of what it called an “appalling” surge in violence against aid workers.
Some 907 aid workers were attacked in 2025, up from 833 the year before, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, a platform funded by Canada and Australia that tracks major security incidents involving humanitarian personnel. Of those, 350 were killed, down slightly from a record 387 in 2024.
Gaza was by far the deadliest place for aid workers last year, with 186 humanitarians killed there by Israeli occupation forces, the database showed. Sudan ranked second.
The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, has reported at least 393 staff members killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7, 2023. UNRWA’s former commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said earlier this year he was pushing for a high-level panel to investigate the deaths.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the level of violence against aid workers appalling and urged member states to uphold the rules of war and hold perpetrators accountable.
“Serving others has become more dangerous than ever,” Guterres said ahead of World Humanitarian Day ceremonies, with flags set to fly at half-staff Wednesday at U.N. headquarters in New York and at the U.N. office in Geneva in honor of those killed.
U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the spread of cheap, adaptable armed drones in conflict zones has sharply raised the risks faced by relief workers. In March, drone strikes hit Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least three people, including a French aid worker. Aid convoys in Sudan and Ukraine have also been repeatedly struck.
Bushra Khalidi, global humanitarian policy lead at Oxfam, called for stronger protections for humanitarian personnel.
“We’re witnessing an assault on humanitarian action itself,” Khalidi said.
