The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, warned of an unprecedented escalation in the targeting of humanitarian workers, stressing that at least 326 aid workers were killed across 21 countries in 2025, bringing the total number of victims over the past three years to more than 1,010.
In a briefing to the UN Security Council on the protection of humanitarian workers and UN staff, Fletcher emphasized that more than 560 of those deaths occurred in Gaza and the West Bank over the past three years, along with 130 in Sudan, 60 in South Sudan and 25 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The UN official said that the death toll tripled over the past three years compared to the previous period, adding that “This is not an accidental escalation. It is the collapse of protection.” Fletcher further underscored that “These humanitarians were killed while distributing food, water, medicine, shelter. They died in clearly marked convoys and on missions coordinated directly with authorities,” highlighting that these deaths reflect reckless disregard by parties to conflicts toward the lives of humanitarian workers.
