Continuing attacks on aid workers highlight the need for accountability in 2026

Attacks on aid workers have continued into 2026 – not a week goes by without a statement issued by a humanitarian organisation mourning the loss of their colleagues and demanding accountability. Yet impunity reigns still.

The remains of a UN vehicle in the aftermath of an attack in which 15 responders were killed in their uniforms in Gaza in March 2025. This was the deadliest attack on aid workers in 2025. Photo: UN OCHA

Last week, two UNICEF workers were killed in Gaza while delivering water, and a Lebanese Red Cross Centre was attacked just one day after a Red Cross volunteer was killed in a drone strike. Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) is deeply concerned about the far-reaching impacts of these attacks on the civilian populations, who remain in dire need of humanitarian assistance.  

On 11 April, the Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee published a statement, highlighting that 27 aid workers had been killed or injured in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran and Lebanon alone since the beginning of the year and demanding that all violations be met with accountability. This statement did not cover Sudan, where there have been multiple attacks on humanitarian operations, including three killed and four wounded in a February drone strike on an aid convoy in Kordofan and a strike on Al Dilling Hospital which killed a member of the Sudanese Red Cresent. 

Meanwhile, aid workers also continue to be arbitrarily detained around the world, including 73 United Nations staff detained by the Houthi’s in Yemen as well as dozens of medical personnel languishing in Israeli jails without charge.  

This follows on from 2025 – the deadliest year on record to be an aid worker. In his 8 April 2026 statement to the Security Council, Tom Fletcher, the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, highlighted that over 1,010 aid workers were killed in the past three years alone (2023-2025). This represents a tripling of number of deaths of aid workers in 2020, 2021 and 2022).  

Hector Sharp, LAW’s Legal Adviser for the Atrocities Against Aid Workers project, notes that “humanitarian personnel that LAW speaks with who are on the frontlines of today’s conflicts are incredibly frustrated because their colleagues keep being killed and each time they hear the same words of condemnation but no action.” 

Legal Action Worldwide is at the forefront of efforts to address impunity for attacks on aid workers. LAW is a partner of Protect Aid Workers, delivering legal assistance and representation to aid workers, their families and humanitarian organisations in conjunction with financial, psychosocial, and security risk management support provided by our partners. 

LAW has been vocal in working towards, and calling for, an end to impunity for attacks on aid workers. Since 2024, when we published the report “Justice and accountability for attacks on aid workers”, we highlight three urgent priorities:  

1. Ensure consequences for states and non-state actors who commit grave violations of international humanitarian law — legal frameworks exist and obligations are clear.  

1. Increase support for mechanisms such as Protect Aid Workers to provide life-saving medical, psychosocial, and legal assistance.  

1. Put survivors’ voices at the centre of all initiatives and decision-making, ensuring that most affected shape the response.  

Humanitarian organisations and the majority of states are united in their desire to combat impunity for such attacks. The challenge now is to turn these commitments into action – LAW is working with partners and donors making headway towards this.