A record number of aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, with the "relentless conflicts" in Gaza and Sudan driving up the figure.

On World Humanitarian Day, the UN said 383 aid workers were killed in the previous calendar year, up by 31% on 2023. The UN statement described the figures and lack of accountability as a "shameful indictment" of international apathy.

The UN said 181 humanitarian workers were killed in Gaza, and in Sudan, 60 aid workers were killed.

What did UN officials say about the record numbers of aid workers' deaths?

So far this year, up to August 14, 265 aid workers have been killed, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database. The database is a US-funded platform that compiles reports on major security incidents affecting aid workers.

"Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy," said Tom Fletcher, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs in the statement.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

"Humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted," he said. "This rule is non-negotiable and is binding on all parties to conflict, always and everywhere. Yet red lines are crossed with impunity."

World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarians were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. 

Gaza shootings drew international condemnation

One incident in Gaza that drew international condemnation saw 15 emergency and aid workers killed by Israeli fire in three separate shootings in March, before being buried in a shallow grave.

Israel's military, the IDF, said in April that the incidents were a result of an "operational misunderstanding" and a "breach of orders."

Aid workers are said to have protection under international humanitarian law, but experts cite few precedents for such cases going to trial.

Concerns are also growing about ensuring future access for aid groups and difficulty proving intent cited as impediments.

"It is catastrophic, and the trend is going in right the opposite direction of what it should," said Jens Laerke, UN humanitarian office spokesperson.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement said 18 of their staff and volunteers had been killed so far this year "while carrying out their life-saving work."

"Each killing sends a dangerous message that their lives were expendable. They were not," the movement said.

Israel-Gaza ceasefire urged by mediators

Meanwhile on the diplomatic front, mediators are still hoping for a ceasefire in Gaza. Qatar, a key mediator, stressed the urgency of brokering a ceasefire on Tuesday after Hamas showed a "positive response" to a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire that would see the exchange of half the hostages still held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners.

Israel is continuing to review the proposal as its military prepares an offensive on some of the territory's most populated areas. 

"Israel's policy is consistent and has not changed. Israel demands the release of all 50 hostages in accordance with the principles established by the cabinet for ending the war. We are in the final decisive stage of Hamas and will not leave any hostage behind," the Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed Israeli political source as saying. 

The prospect of an expanded assault on areas sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians sparked condemnation inside Israel and abroad.

"If this [ceasefire] proposal fails, the crisis will exacerbate," Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, told journalists.

Al-Ansari said Hamas had agreed to terms under discussion but declined to provide details. He added that the proposal was "almost identical" to one previously advanced by US envoy Steve Witkoff.

"If we get to a deal, it shouldn't be expected that it would be instantaneously implemented," al-Ansari said. "We're not there yet."

Edited by: Rana Taha