UN office warns that a record number of aid workers were killed in 2023 and fears further grim milestones could be set as wars rage.

More than half of the 280 aid workers killed worldwide in 2023 died during the first three months of Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the United Nations.

The rise in deaths, mainly due to Israeli air attacks in Gaza between October and December last year, represents a 137 percent increase compared with 2022, when 118 aid workers were killed.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that aid workers were killed in 33 countries in 2023, the “deadliest year on record for the global humanitarian community”.

But this year “may be on track for an even deadlier outcome”, OCHA warned, with 172 aid workers killed so far this year as of August 7.

Marking World Humanitarian Day, leaders of humanitarian organisations are sending a joint letter to UN General Assembly member states, calling for an end to attacks on civilians, enhanced protection for aid workers, and accountability for those responsible.

Violence in Sudan and South Sudan has contributed to the death toll, both in 2023 and in 2024, said the UN. Meanwhile, several humanitarian workers continue to be detained in Yemen.

The UN’s acting emergency relief coordinator, Joyce Msuya, said in a statement that “the normalisation of violence against aid workers and the lack of accountability are unacceptable, unconscionable and enormously harmful for aid operations everywhere”.

She demanded in a statement that “people in power act to end violations against civilians and the impunity with which these heinous attacks are committed”.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said 207 of its staff members have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war in October last year.

207 @UNRWA team members have been killed in #Gaza since the war began – including in the line of duty.

They were engineers, teachers, medical staff. They were humanitarian workers. On #WorldHumanitarianDay and every day we remember and pay tribute to them all.#ActForHumanity pic.twitter.com/NsPA98am88

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 19, 2024

“We demand an end to impunity so that perpetrators face justice,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said on X: “In Gaza, there have been way too many of them since the war started 10 months ago. At least 289 aid workers including 207 UNRWA team members and 885 health workers lost.”

Asian stocks were mixed Monday as investors ponder the upcoming meeting of the Federal Reserve, following Wall Street’s best week since November with a slight uptick in U.S. stocks Friday.

U.S. futures were higher while oil prices dropped.

Japan’s benchmark index fluctuated in morning trading. The Nikkei 225 shed 15.50 points to 38,047.17 after data showed the core machinery orders, which are used as a leading indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, fell 1.7% year on year in June.

The U.S. dollar fell to 146.44 Japanese yen from 147.58 yen.

Last week, better-than-expected U.S. retail sales figures boosted market confidence and shifted sentiment regarding potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in September, which could trigger a sell-off of the yen against the dollar and other major currencies. But still, the dollar-yen exchange rate has been on a downward trend over the past weeks.

“The recent turmoil in the foreign exchange market isn’t just about the Bank of Japan’s actions … other factors, like signals from the Federal Reserve about possible rate cuts, weak U.S. job market data, and broader global economic uncertainties, have also contributed to the recent turbulence,” Luca Santos, currency analyst at ACY Securities, said in a commentary.

The market’s focus is on Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech late in the week and the setting has been home to big policy announcements in the past.

Because the Fed has said its upcoming moves will depend in large part on what data reports at the time say, “it will be difficult for Powell to pre-commit to a particular trajectory at Jackson Hole,” said economists at Deutsche Bank led by Matthew Luzzetti.

But Powell could offer hints about whether the Fed is hoping to merely remove the brakes from the economy through rate cuts or give it an accelerant.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 7,988.00 and the Kospi in Seoul lost 0.2% to 2,690.83. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1% to 17,611.77, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.5% to 2,894.57.

Bangkok’s SET increased 0.8% after data showed the country’s gross domestic product in the second quarter increased 2.3% compared to a year earlier, driven by tourism.

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 5,554.25 for a seventh straight gain and pulled back within 2% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% to 40,659.76, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2% to 17,631.72.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market following mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One showed homebuilders broke ground on fewer projects last month than forecast, which threw some cold water on the market. Optimism had been rising earlier in the week following a flurry of better-than-expected reports on everything from inflation to sales at U.S. retailers.

But a report later in the morning suggested U.S. consumers are feeling better about the economy than expected. That’s a big deal for Wall Street because their spending makes up the bulk of the economy.

Even though confidence rose in the economy’s strength following the strong run of reports, it is still likely slowing under the weight of high interest rates.

The question is whether the slowdown in growth will overshoot and become a recession. The hope on Wall Street is that an expected cut to interest rates at the Fed’s next meeting in September will help forestall that.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.88% from 3.92% late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 4.05% from 4.10% late Thursday.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gave up 16 cents to $75.38 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 15 cents to $79.53 a barrel.

The euro has been strengthening against the U.S. dollar. On Monday, it cost $1.1040, inching up from $1.1028.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.