On August 19 2026, during World Humanitarian Day — commemorating the 2003 Canal Hotel suicide truck bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, in which 22 UN staff members were killed —, the United Nations (UN) released definitive figures regarding violence committed against humanitarian workers in 2025. In reaction to the 907 aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped last year, the UN warned that aid workers face an increasingly deadly threat, especially as armed drones reshape warfare and expand the reach of attacks into civilian areas.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) protects humanitarian and medical personnel and prohibits attacks against them as they do not participate in fighting but rather provide impartial help to the wounded, the sick and civilian populations.
However, accountability for IHL violations remains rare: according to the UN Aid Coordination Office (OCHA), 350 aid workers were killed in 2025, making it the second-highest death toll ever recorded — slightly below the record 387 deaths in 2024. Tom Fletcher, UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, called on States to uphold IHL and impose real consequences on those who violate the rules.
Gaza was the deadliest conflict for aid workers for the third consecutive year, with 186 humanitarian workers killed in 2025. Sudan was the second-deadliest zone, with 71 aid workers killed. Other highly insecure contexts for humanitarian workers in 2025 included Ukraine, Ethiopia, Syria, Haiti, Chad and Cameroon, where kidnappings and aerial bombardment were among the most common forms of violence.
Drone warfare is rapidly reshaping aid workers’ safety, with the rapid spread of cheap and adaptable armed drones putting lethal capabilities into more hands and allowing explosive attacks to reach deeper into towns and cities. In Sudan, armed drones were responsible for 80% of civilian deaths during the first four months of 2026, notably due to attacks on health facilities.
Nonetheless, Fletcher described weaponized drones as “the new face of an old danger”, emphasizing that technologies may change the ways of war but not its law.
So far in 2026, 82 aid workers have been killed, 97 injured and 39 kidnapped worldwide, according to OCHA.