GENEVA, November 22. /TASS/. More than 280 aid workers have been killed since January, making this year the deadliest one ever for humanitarian personnel, Jens Laerke, Deputy Spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said.

"Before it is even over, 2024 has become the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel worldwide. We have now reached 281 recorded aid worker deaths this year, surpassing the previous record from the whole of last year, which was 280, and itself a record," he noted.

According to Laerke, ten aid workers have died in the Gaza Strip in November. "Since 7 October last year, at least 333 aid workers have been killed in Gaza alone. Most were staff members of UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - TASS), and our colleagues," he said. "Threats to aid workers extend beyond Gaza, with high levels of violence, kidnappings, injuries, harassment, and arbitrary detention reported in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen, among other countries."