Almost 70% of the war dead in the Gaza Strip are women and children

The UN human rights office has condemned the high number of civilians killed in the war in Gaza, saying its analysis shows that almost 70% of verified victims over a six-month period were women and children.

The agency said the high number was largely due to Israel's use of large-scale weapons in densely populated areas, although some deaths may have been the result of faulty projectiles fired by Palestinian armed groups.

The report said it found “unprecedented” levels of violations of international law and raised concerns about “war crimes and other possible atrocities.”

Israel has said in the past that it is targeting Hamas and is taking steps to reduce the risk to civilians through the use of precision munitions.

The BBC contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on Friday's report.

The UN agency said it had reviewed details of 8,119 people killed in Gaza from November 2023 to April 2024.

The analysis found that around 44% of verified victims were children and 26% were women. The dead included mainly five to nine year olds.

About 80% of the victims were killed in apartment buildings or similar accommodation, the agency added.

The report said the data indicated “an apparent indifference to the deaths of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare.”

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, whose figures are seen by the United Nations as reliablehas reported a death toll of more than 43,300 in the past 13 months. Many more bodies are believed to lie beneath the rubble of bombed buildings.

The Health Ministry said it had obtained full demographic data for the majority of those killed and reported that a third of that number were children.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said in a statement that “this unprecedented level of killings and injuries to civilians is a direct result of failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”

He referred to the laws of distinction, which require belligerents to distinguish between combatants and civilians, proportionality, which prohibits attacks in which harm to civilians outweighs military advantage, and precautionary measures in attacks.

Türk called for a “due investigation into the allegations of serious violations of international law.”

The IDF had previously told the BBC in response to the criticism that it would “continue to act as it always has, in accordance with international law.”

The report also said that the way the warring parties conducted the conflict in Gaza “caused terrible human suffering.”

The United Nations said Palestinian armed groups waged war from densely populated areas and used projectiles indiscriminately, likely contributing to the death toll, while the IDF destroyed civilian infrastructure, leaving “many of those alive, injured, displaced and starving.” left without access”. sufficient water, food or health care”.

The situation is worst in the north of the Gaza Strip, which aid organizations say has been under siege since the beginning of October, when Israel launched a new ground offensive against Hamas.

According to the United Nations, no food aid reached the north in the first two weeks of October.

This prompted the US to give Israel an ultimatum to increase aid until November 12 or risk losing some military support.

Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, told the BBC on Friday that he had seen “unimaginable devastation and despair” during a recent visit to Gaza.

“There is hardly a building that is not damaged. And vast areas looked like Stalingrad after World War II. “You cannot imagine how intense these indiscriminate bombings were on this trapped population,” he said.

“It is obvious that it is children and women who are primarily paying the price for this senseless war,” he added.

Israel launched its current military offensive in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people in Israel and returned 251 hostages to Gaza.