UN says record number of aid workers killed in 2023, mostly from UNRWA

A record number of aid workers were killed in conflicts around the world last year, and this year may be on course to be even deadlier, the United Nations said Monday.

The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 280 aid workers were killed in 33 countries in 2023 — more than double the previous year’s figure of 118. It said that more than half of last year’s deaths were registered in the first three months of the Israel-Hamas war that started in October, mostly as a result of airstrikes.

The office said that this year “may be on track for an even deadlier outcome,” with 172 aid workers killed as of Aug. 7.

More than 280, the majority of them with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have been killed in Gaza so far, according to OCHA.