Attacks on health facilities doubled between 2023 and 2024, killing more than 900 health workers last year globally as conflicts increasingly target medical personnel and hospitals that protect civilians, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA documented record numbers of humanitarian aid workers killed in 2024, with 2025 already surpassing these figures. Health workers continue delivering babies and treating patients under fire, often while grieving their own families lost to violence.
International humanitarian law requires protecting medical facilities and personnel during conflicts, but these protections are being systematically ignored across multiple war zones. Funding cuts for humanitarian work compound the crisis as decades-old support systems struggle to operate.
Gaza illustrates the scale of targeting, with WHO documenting over 720 attacks on healthcare since October 2023 and at least 1,580 health workers killed, and as yet unknown numbers arrested and detained by Israel.
Senior midwife Ayda delivered babies in hospital hallways because delivery rooms were under direct fire, using mobile phones for lighting. She was killed days after sharing her story, along with 37 family members. In Sudan, over 80% of health facilities in conflict zones are non-operational, forcing midwives to risk their lives reaching women at home. Haiti’s gangs deliberately target hospitals, burning Port-au-Prince facilities and forcing closure of major medical centers.
Ukraine has seen over 300 Russian attacks on healthcare facilities since January 2025, while eastern Congo’s maternal health facilities face bombing and looting. Only one-third of regional hospitals can function, leaving mobile clinics as women’s sole option for childbirth. UNFPA called on World Humanitarian Day for leaders to end violence and guarantee healthcare as a human right during war.
