GENEVA (Reuters) – More aid workers have been killed this year than in any year since records began, the U.N. humanitarian office said on Friday, with most of them killed in the conflict in Gaza.

So far this year, there have been 281 victims of aid workers, according to the Aid Worker Security database, which has recorded incidents dating back to 1997, up from 280 in 2023, which held the previous record.

It showed that 178 people had been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, this year, which was the deadliest conflict for the United Nations. Twenty-five were killed in Sudan, it said.

“These people are doing God’s work and are being killed in response. What the hell?” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Office (OCHA), at a press briefing in Geneva.

Most of the victims were local staff, while 13 of them were international workers, he added.

Aid workers enjoy protection under international humanitarian law, but experts cite little precedent for such cases to go to trial, with concerns about securing future access for aid groups and difficulties in proving intent cited as impediments.

“This violence is intolerable and devastating to aid operations,” UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

“States and parties to the conflict must protect humanitarian personnel, respect international law, prosecute those responsible and end this era of impunity,” he said.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Gareth Jones)