UN: Gaza Was the Deadliest Place on Earth for Aid Workers in 2025

Gaza was the deadliest place in the world for humanitarian workers in 2025, according to new figures released by the UN humanitarian office this week.

The Aid Worker Security Database, which tracks major incidents affecting relief personnel worldwide, recorded 186 aid workers killed in Gaza last year alone. No other conflict zone came close. Sudan, the second-deadliest location, trailed far behind.

The Gaza figure sits inside a grim global total. The database logged 907 aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped worldwide in 2025, with 350 of those killed outright. That marks a slight dip from 2024's record of 387 deaths, but it is still the third consecutive year that humanitarian casualties have hit historic highs.

Guterres calls it 'appalling'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the violence as "appalling" in a statement Wednesday and called on states to respect the laws of war and hold perpetrators accountable. "Serving others has become more dangerous than ever," he said.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher pointed to the growing use of cheap, adaptable armed drones as a driver of the rising toll, citing a March drone strike in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, that killed at least three people including a French aid worker. Aid convoys in Sudan and Ukraine have also been repeatedly hit, he said.

But Gaza's death toll dwarfs those examples. Israel has waged a nearly two-year military campaign in the territory, operating under a siege that has restricted the entry of food, medicine and fuel. Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly said Israeli forces have struck aid convoys, warehouses and workers despite coordination efforts meant to protect them.

Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian refugees, said on social media that "humanitarian workers are not a target and humanitarian assistance must be fully facilitated." The statement is a pointed reminder of obligations under international humanitarian law that aid officials say have gone unmet in Gaza.

Push for accountability

UNRWA's former commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said earlier this year he was seeking a high-level independent panel to investigate the deaths of the agency's staff. UNRWA has lost more personnel in Gaza than in any other operation in its history, a fact that has fueled accusations from humanitarian groups that Israel has not adequately protected aid workers or investigated their deaths.

The casualty figures come as funding for humanitarian operations is being squeezed globally. The European Commission said in a statement it would maintain its donor commitments, adding that "every aid worker killed is not only a personal tragedy; it is also a failure by the international community to uphold its most basic commitments."

Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's global humanitarian policy lead, said the scale of violence amounts to more than isolated incidents. "We're witnessing an assault on humanitarian action itself," she said.

None of the statements cited by the UN specify who is responsible for individual strikes on aid workers in Gaza. But the concentration of deaths there, far above any other conflict, places direct scrutiny on the conduct of Israeli forces operating under the siege and bombardment that has defined the war.