Nearly 70% of those killed in Gaza between November 2023 and April 2024 were women and children

Nearly 70% of those killed in the Gaza Strip between November 2023 and April 2024 were women and children, the United Nations indicated this Friday after a partial count of the victims of the war between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas.

The new report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also details a long list of violations of international law, many of which may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and even “genocide” .

The High Commissioner verified 8,119 of the more than 34,500 deaths recorded during the first six months of the war and concluded that “about 70% were children and women.”

“We think this is representative of the distribution of the total number of deaths. High commissioner spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told AFP the ratio was similar to that given by authorities in Gaza, the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas.

The number and nature of casualties in the Gaza Strip have been the subject of repeated debate since the beginning of the war, which began following Hamas attacks on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.

The United Nations and many countries believe that the daily balance given by the Gaza Health Ministry is reliable. However, Israel has denied this since the beginning of the conflict.

According to the High Commissioner, the disproportionate number of women and children “indicates systematic violations of basic principles of international humanitarian law, in particular distinction and proportionality.” Of the verified deaths, 3,588 were children and 2,036 were women, the report said.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned in a statement, “This unprecedented level of deaths and injuries among civilians is a direct result of the failure to adhere to the basic principles of international humanitarian law.”

On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed 1,206 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, and captured 251, including hostages who died in captivity, according to AFP calculations based on official figures. Were.

Of the 251 abducted, 97 remain in Gaza, although the Israeli military has declared 34 dead.

Israeli strikes in Gaza have already killed at least 43,469 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza Health Ministry data.

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