THE number of aid workers killed in conflict zones more than doubled last year, the UN reported today.

Its Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 280 aid workers were killed in 33 countries in 2023, compared to 118 in 2022.

Over half the killings took place in Gaza following Israel’s invasion, which began in October following a Hamas cross-border attack, with the majority of these down to Israeli air strikes, the office said.

Israel’s military has been accused of deliberately murdering aid workers, with the killing of seven working for World Central Kitchen on April 1 causing headlines around the world because they included US, Canadian, British and Australian citizens.

It has also been accused of attempting to starve Gaza by blocking or delaying aid convoys. Its National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, caused uproar in June when he told police not to interfere with mobs attacking aid convoys headed for Gaza. 

The difficulty and danger of getting aid into Gaza has also resulted in shortages of medicines and vaccines, which the World Health Organisation said yesterday was causing a resurgence in cases of polio, which had been eradicated in Gaza by the end of the last century.

With 172 killings in 2024 to date, this year has already surpassed 2022’s total and could surpass last year’s as well, the UN report warned.

After Gaza, the most dangerous place for aid workers was Sudan and South Sudan, both riven by civil war, it said.

UN acting emergency relief co-ordinator Joyce Msuya said: “The normalisation of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable and enormously harmful for aid operations everywhere.”