19 August 2026—Health professionals working in conflict-affected areas are facing an appalling new threat: armed drones that can be piloted remotely with first-person-view to target health and humanitarian work. Video footage is reaching newsrooms and aid organizations of deliberate strikes by explosive-laden drones on health workers and ambulances while they provide care—even away from the battlefield.
In a sinister development, there are also growing reports of so-called “double-tap” strikes: drones and other weapons target health and humanitarian first responders as they attend to the scene of an initial attack. In these cases, health professionals are not unintended collateral victims, but deliberate targets of attacks intended to weaken health services and intimidate civilian populations.
Such treacherous tactics are not only morally abhorrent but forbidden by international humanitarian law, which requires that healthcare facilities and personnel be kept safe from any harm during conflict.
On World Humanitarian Day, WHPA is calling on governments, parties to conflict and the international community to act urgently to protect health professionals, safeguard health services and ensure accountability for attacks on health care.
As advances in military technology accelerate, efforts to protect health professionals must keep pace. Human beings must remain in control of life-and-death decisions. Yet this is an uphill battle. The protections afforded to health workers, patients and medical facilities under international humanitarian law are already too often violated, while those responsible for attacks on health care are too rarely held to account. In 2025 alone, 2,546 attacks on health care were documented, resulting the tragic deaths of 455 health workers; 218 people providing care were kidnapped and 263 arrested or detained, simply for doing their job.
The situation is further aggravated by deep cuts to health and humanitarian funding in many countries — cuts that are, in some cases, made in order to increase spending on armaments and military capabilities. These reductions are hollowing out essential services on which civilians depend, placing additional pressure on already understaffed health workforces and undermining the long-term resilience of health systems.
WHPA stands in solidarity with humanitarian workers and calls for an immediate end to attacks on health professionals, patients and health facilities in conflict. Health care must be protected, and those who provide it must be able to do their work safely and without fear.
#ActForHumanity #NotATarget
Sign WHPA’s open letter calling for the safeguarding of healthcare facilities and personnel in areas of conflict, in accordance with international law
World Humanitarian Day is marked on 19 August, the day in 2003 when 22 UN aid workers were killed in an attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. The activity brings together partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers. It is organized by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA website (in English); UN website (multilingual)