'Shameful indictment' as record number of aid workers killed
However, beyond the headlines, there are the unsung heroes who laid their lives on the line to provide aid to the civilians of the likes of Gaza and Sudan.
Tragically, a record number of aid workers were killed in 2024, with the United Nations reporting 383 deaths across the year. Israel has blocked aid from coming into Gaza. Pic: Eyad BABA / AFP via Getty Images
The UN branded the figures and lack of accountability a 'shameful indictment' of international apathy.
They also warned that this year's toll is equally horrifying.
The UN revealed the figures on World Humanitarian Day, revealing that the 2024 toll is 31% higher than the year before.
These aid workers exhausted themselves trying to help the war-torn people of the world and were ultimately killed for standing up for civilians.
This year's tragic death count was surged upwards by Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
The UN stated that 181 humanitarian workers were killed in Gaza and a further 60 were killed in Sudan. A record amount of aid workers died in 2024. Pic: Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images
They added that most of those killed were local staff serving their communities, and were either attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.
Aside from the killings, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 were kidnapped and 45 were detained in 2024.
This year is looking no better, mainly in Gaza as Israel continue to gun down civilians.
The UN said: 'Worryingly, there is no sign that the trend is slowing this year, with 265 aid workers killed as of 14 August this year, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database.'
From her base in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that exhausted aid workers continue to show up for work 'day in and day out'.
Olga emphasized the commitment of her Palestinian colleagues over the last two years, mainly 'the doctors, the nurses, aid workers – many of whom have lost everything and several times over'. Other nations have attempted to drop aid into Gaza. Pic: Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images
She also highlighted the need for an immediate ceasefire and a permanent end to the attacks.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said: 'Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve.
'Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy.
'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 UN reiterated that attacks on aid workers and operations violate international humanitarian law and damage the lifelines sustaining millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.
Tom Fletcher added: 'Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.' Israeli attack destroys UN-run School in Central Gaza. Pic: by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images
Meanwhile, the UN's World Health Organization said it had verified more than 800 attacks on health care in 16 territories so far this year, with more than 1,110 health workers and patients killed, along with hundreds more injured.
The WHO stated: 'Each attack inflicts lasting harm, deprives entire communities of life-saving care when they need it the most, endangers health care providers, and weakens already strained health systems.'
The aid workers in Gaza have been feeling helpless as Israel blocked the passage of humanitarian aid into the territory, starving millions of people.
Israel has been restricting food, fuel and medical supplies from coming into Gaza while Palestinians are being starved to death.
Olga Cherevko reflected on the nature of humanitarian work and the feeling of helplessness in Gaza. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Pic: AFP via Getty Images
She said: 'I think as a humanitarian, I feel powerless sometimes in Gaza because I know what it is that we can do as humanitarians when we're unable to do so, both here in Gaza and in any other humanitarian crisis.
'The fact that we continue to face massive impediments for delivering aid at scale, when our missions are delayed, when our missions lasted 12, 14, 18 hours; the routes that we're given are dangerous, impassible or inaccessible.
'Everyone's still showing up (to work), but courage alone and commitment alone isn't going to feed people, isn't going to save people.
'What we need is, again, a permanent ceasefire. We need political solutions to this conflict and a resolution to this crisis.'
World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarians were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
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