UN: 70% of fatalities from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza are women, children

The United Nations Human Rights Office says nearly 70 percent of verified fatalities from Israel’s continuous bombardment of Gaza are women and children. 

The agency stated this in a report published on Friday.

The report contains a detailed analysis of the effect of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip from November 2023 to April 2024.

The UN agency said it verified the details of 8,119 people killed in Gaza during the period.

At least 2,036 of the casualties were women, while 3,588 were children — 1,865 boys and 1,723 girls. The ages most represented among the dead were five to nine-year-olds.

The report said over 7,607 — about 80 percent — were killed in residential buildings, adding that the high death toll was due to Israel’s use of weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas.

However, some deaths may have been the result of errant projectiles by Palestinian armed groups.

The UN agency said it found “breaches of international law that in many instances could amount to war crimes”.

“The International Court of Justice, in its series of orders on provisional measures, underscored the international obligations of Israel to prevent, protect against and punish acts of genocide and associated prohibited conduct,” the report says.

Volker Türk, chief of the UN’s Human Rights Office, said there is “wanton disregard” for the international law surrounding wars and the action “has led to the current extremes of human suffering”.

“The rules of war, in force now for 160 years, were designed to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict,” he said.

“Their wanton disregard has led to the current extremes of human suffering which we continue to see today.

“It seems inconceivable that the parties to the conflict refuse to apply universally accepted and binding norms developed to preserve the very bare minimum of humanity.”

Israel’s age-long conflict with Palestine took a fresh dimension on October 7, 2023. Some members of Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, invaded Israel and killed over 1,000 people, with many kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

The Israeli government began an attack and occupation of Northern Gaza as a reprisal.