350 aid workers killed worldwide in 2025, UN says

The United Nations said Wednesday that 350 aid workers were killed worldwide in 2025, with the highest tolls in Gaza and Sudan.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs cited figures from the research and advisory group Humanitarian Outcomes in a statement marking World Humanitarian Day.

OCHA said 186 humanitarians were killed in Gaza, making it the deadliest place for aid workers for the third year in a row. Sudan followed with 71 aid workers killed. The 2025 toll was slightly below the 377 aid workers killed in 2024.

"More than 1,000 aid workers have been killed in just three years and that is utterly unacceptable," Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said in the statement.

Fletcher said states must uphold international humanitarian law, protect civilians and aid workers, and ensure consequences for those who break the rules.

Since the start of 2026, 82 more aid workers have been killed, 97 injured and 39 abducted worldwide, OCHA said.

OCHA also raised concern over the spread of armed drones, saying they were putting lethal power into more hands and sending more explosive weapons into towns and cities. It said armed drones caused 80 percent of civilian deaths in Sudan in the first four months of 2026, hitting markets and health facilities, and noted casualties from drone attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war.

"Weaponized drones have become the new face of an old danger: the deliberate or reckless destruction of civilian life," Fletcher said.