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December 2024

Data

Data for December 2024

At least one death or injury from the use of explosive weapons was recorded in 25 countries and territories in December 2024. Worldwide, there were at least 791 reported incidents of explosive weapons use resulting in 4,819 casualties, of which 4,402 (91%) were civilians. Around 43% of all reported civilian casualties occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in December 2024. Other affected countries and territories in terms of civilian casualties from the use of explosive weapons were Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, and Ukraine.

When explosive weapons were used in populated areas in December 2024, civilians reportedly accounted for 98% of all recorded casualties. This pattern of harm has been consistently recorded over the last decade.

This data is collected from English-language media reports. It does not attempt to exhaustively capture all incidents of explosive weapon use around the world but to serve as an indicator of the scale and pattern of deaths and injuries. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon, English-language media underreported the numbers of casualties caused by incidents of explosive weapons use. Additionally, the use of explosive weapons in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon was so frequent that it was difficult in many cases to attribute civilian casualties to specific incidents of use, as required by the methodology for this data collection. As such, the data presented here underrepresents the extent to which casualties were caused by explosive weapons. For more information on casualties from official sources in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, see the Ministry of Health in Gaza and the Lebanese Health Ministry reported figures, when possible, by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Reported incidents of explosive weapon use that resulted in civilian casualties by state/territory in December 2024

Number of incidents

184

Reported incidents of explosive weapon use and
civilian and armed-actor casualties in December 2024

Impact on civilians in populated areas in December 2024

There were 239 incidents of explosive weapon use affecting aid access, education and healthcare services reported in ten countries and territories in December 2024. Of these, nearly half were recorded in the Occupied Palestinian Territories where IDF air and drone strikes and artillery shelling impacted IDP camps, medical facilities and schools at least 109 times. Recorded incidents increased in Syria where 13 medical facilities in Idlib city were damaged by airstrikes by Russian and Syrian forces a few days prior to the collapse of the Assad regime. Elsewhere, incidents increased in Ukraine, decreased slightly in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Myanmar, and also continued to be recorded in Sudan. In Iraq, a school was hit by Turkish forces artillery shelling. In Russia, a kindergarten was hit and damaged by debris from a Ukrainian drone shot down by Russian forces. In Yemen, a school was hit by a Houthi drone strike, killing six people and injuring eight others.

Reported incidents of explosive weapon use affecting aid
access, education and healthcare in December 2024

ANNUAL UPDATES FOR December 2024

In the last year (January 2024 to December 2024), at least one death or injury from the use of explosive weapons was recorded in 56 countries and territories. Worldwide, there were 9,555 incidents of explosive weapons use resulting in 67,057 casualties, of which 89% (59,554) were civilians. About 40% of all reported civilian casualties occurred in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Other affected countries and territories in terms of civilian casualties from the use of explosive weapons were Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.

In the last year (January to December 2024), there were 4,011 recorded incidents of explosive weapons use affecting aid access, education, and healthcare services in 30 countries and territories. Of these, 88% of incidents were attributed to state armed forces. In total, at least 845 aid workers, educators, health workers and students were killed in these incidents.