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Foreign activists help residents carry cement bags in the Kabneh Bedouin community, located northeast of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on the 10th (local time). / AFP-Yonhap

The UN said 350 aid workers died worldwide last year, including 186 in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and 71 in Sudan.

According to AFP, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on the 17th (local time) that 2025 marked another grim record for violence against humanitarian workers, with 907 aid workers killed, injured, or kidnapped.

The figures were compiled based on the database of Humanitarian Outcomes (HO), a research organization specializing in humanitarian affairs. Last year's death toll declined from 377 the previous year.

According to OCHA, as of recently this year, 82 aid workers have died worldwide, 97 have been injured, and 39 have been kidnapped.

OCHA Director Tom Fletcher said, "In just three years, more than 1,000 humanitarian workers have lost their lives, which is completely unacceptable."

Fletcher said, "Condemnation alone cannot protect them," arguing that countries must comply with international humanitarian law and use every means available to protect civilians and our colleagues.

He added, "Those who violate the rules must face consequences."

OCHA expressed concern that aid workers are left defenseless against lethal attacks amid the growing spread of low-cost armed drones.

In Sudan in particular, about 80% of civilian deaths from January to April this year were caused by drone strikes, with markets and medical facilities being frequent targets, the agency said.

Fletcher stressed, "Military drones are a new form of an old danger — the deliberate, reckless targeting of civilian life," adding, "Technology may advance, but the laws of war do not change."

                                                                                                           Kim Hyun-min