Editing Attacks on humanitarian workers (section)

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[[File:World Central Kitchen car after IDF strike - 2.jpg|thumb|Aftermath of [[World Central Kitchen aid convoy attack]] which killed 7 aid workers on April 1, 2024]]
Humanitarian [[aid workers]] belonging to [[United Nations]] agencies, [[Non-governmental organization|nongovernmental organisations]] (NGOs), and the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement]] are among the list of [[protected persons]] under [[international humanitarian law]] that grant them immunity from attack by belligerent parties. However, deliberate violence is the leading cause of death among aid workers, and attacks have become increasingly more frequent since 1997 when the [[Aid Worker Security Database]] (AWSD) began tracking them.
The number of aid workers attacked has increased from 260 in 2008 to 595 in 2023. For the first 20 years of the AWSD, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, and Syria were consistently the most dangerous places for aid workers to operate. Between 2013 and 2018, an average of 127 aid workers were killed, 120 injured, and 104 abducted worldwide per year. In November 2024, the UN reported that 281 aid workers had been killed that year, making 2024 the deadliest year on record; 175 of the deaths occurred in Gaza. Additionally the UN stated that 333 aid workers had been killed thus far in the [[Gaza war|Gaza War]], the highest number recorded in a single crisis.

The most common causes of death among aid workers are shootings and air strikes, with road travel being particularly dangerous. A large contributor to violence against aid workers is kidnapping, though most end in release after negotiations. Motives for attacks on aid workers are often unknown, but of those that are known the cause is often political. Aid workers may be targeted for delivering aid to a population whom others do not wish aid to reach or for being seen as collaborating with an enemy group. During the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|War in Afghanistan]], for example, there was an increase in politically motivated attacks, potentially because local residents stopped distinguishing between organisations who worked directly with the US military and those who did not.