UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA: The number of aid workers killed worldwide in 2025 reached 350, with the most fatalities in Gaza and Sudan, the United Nations said on Monday, calling attacks on humanitarians “unacceptable.”
The death toll, however, was slightly lower than that of 2024, when 377 aid workers were killed. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cited the figures from the research and advisory group Humanitarian Outcomes in a statement marking World Humanitarian Day.
Some 186 humanitarians were killed in Gaza — the deadliest place for aid workers for the third year running — followed by Sudan with 71 killed.
“More than 1,000 aid workers have been killed in just three years and that is utterly unacceptable,” Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said in the statement. “But just calling it out will not protect the next aid worker. States must uphold international humanitarian law and use every tool to protect civilians and our colleagues,” he said. “And for those who break the rules, there must be real consequences.” Since the start of 2026, 82 more aid workers have been killed, 97 injured and 39 abducted worldwide.
Aid cuts hitting people with disabilities hard: survey
OCHA voiced particular concern over the proliferation of armed drones “that are putting lethal power into ever more hands and sending more explosive weapons into towns and cities.” In Sudan, armed drones caused 80 percent of
civilian deaths in the first four months of 2026, hitting markets and health facilities, the statement said, also noting casualties from drone attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Weaponised drones have become the new face of an old danger: the deliberate or reckless destruction of civilian life,” Fletcher said.
Aid cuts
Sharp cuts to international development and aid funding are having “direct and severe consequences” on the lives of people with disabilities, Handicap International (HI) said.
The charity warned in a report that people with disabilities risked being particularly hard-hit amid “the sharpest aid contraction in modern history”. The dramatic cuts have left people with disabilities facing “growing exclusion, restricted access to essential services, and threats to their survival”, it said.
The report highlighted numbers from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development showing that official development assistance fell 23 percent last year — the biggest drop ever recorded. The United States has led the charge on cuts since President Donald Trump returned to power last year, but other major donors like Britain, Germany and France have also slashed aid and development budgets.
“Every budget cut has human consequences: it can deprive people of access to rehabilitation, education, healthcare, or the support services essential to their independence,” HI Switzerland chief Daniel Suda-Lang said in a statement.
Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2026
