OCHA: Gaza Strip the most dangerous place for humanitarian workers for the third consecutive year
Geneva, August 19 (KUNA) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Wednesday of escalating risks facing humanitarian workers worldwide, noting that the Palestinian Gaza Strip remained “the most dangerous place” for the third consecutive year, following the killing of 186 humanitarian workers, with Sudan coming second after 71 workers were killed. This was stated in a statement issued by OCHA on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, observed annually on August 19.
According to the statement, 2025 recorded a record number of attacks on humanitarian workers, with 907 relief workers killed, injured, or abducted. Since the beginning of the current year, 82 workers have been killed, 97 injured, and 39 others abducted in various regions around the world.
The statement quoted UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, who said that the killing of more than 1,000 relief workers over three years is “absolutely unacceptable,” and that merely condemning these attacks will not be enough to protect workers in the future.
Fletcher called on states to fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law and to use all available means to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, emphasizing that violators of the rules must face real consequences. He warned of the increasing use of armed drones, which have “become the new face of an old risk: the deliberate or reckless destruction of civilian lives,” stressing that “technology may change, but the laws of war do not.”
According to the statement, armed drones accounted for about 80 percent of recorded civilian deaths in Sudan during the first four months of the current year, 2026, after targeting markets and health facilities. It added that drone attacks also resulted in the deaths of approximately 80 civilians in Ukraine during April alone, while similar attacks in Russia led to civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure. (End) A.M.K.
