Focus on the surge in aid worker deaths.

 The theme of this year’s commemoration overseen by OCHA is an end to the attacks on humanitarians and civilians and impunity under International Humanitarian Law. “We urge those in power to #ActForHumanity,” the UN agency said. 

Latest data indicates a 31% of surge in aid worker deaths compared to 2023, driven by the relentless conflict in Gaza. The Strip saw 181 humanitarian workers killed in 2024, with 60 more fatalities in Sudan. More widely, violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries in 2024 compared to the previous year, with State actors the most common perpetrators. 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  Worker Security Database.

Amid early reports that Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and ongoing uncertainty about the Israeli plan to pursue a complete military takeover of the enclave, OCHA’s Ms. Cherevko highlighted the need for a permanent end to the conflict.

Aid teams are exhausted and “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”, she insisted. “What we need is, again, a permanent ceasefire. We need political solutions to this conflict and a resolution to this crisis.”

According to OCHA, most of the aid workers killed last year were national staff serving their communities, attacked in the line of duty or in their homes. An additional 308 aid workers were wounded, with 125 kidnapped and 45 detained in 2024.

“Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said Tom Fletcher, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy...Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end.”