UN: Nearly 70% of war dead in Gaza are women and children

The United Nations Human Rights Office has said on Friday that nearly 70 percent of the victims it has verified in the Gaza War are women and children, claiming to condemn systematic violations of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

UN findings cover the first seven months of war between Israel and Hamas ʹ the US and EU-declared terrorist group at the Gaza Strip, which started more than a year ago.

The UN office verified 8.119 victims during the first seven months of war. But that figure is extremely low compared to the total number of those killed, over 43,000, during the 13 months of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

However, verifying the age and gender of victims from the UN supports Palestinian claims that most of those killed in war are women and children.

These findings point to “for a systematic violation of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”, the UN office said in a communiqué.

Israel has not yet commented on the findings of the 32-page UN report.

The Israeli Army, which started the war in Gaza in response to the October 7th 2023 attack after Hamas' warriors killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped more than 250 others, says it makes sure they don't harm civilians in Gaza.

For killing civilians she blames Hamas, accusing him of using them as a human shield.

Hamas has denied accusations of using civilians and civil infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.

The youngest victim whose death was verified by UN monitors was a one-day boy, while the oldest was a 97-year-old woman, the report said.

In total, 44 percent of the victims were children. / REL