The United Nations Human Rights Office has said 70% of verified fatalities in the Gaza war, over a six-month period were women and children.
According to the agency, many of these casualties resulted from the use of wide-area effect weapons in densely populated urban areas by Israel.
The UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, attributed some of the deaths to stray projectiles from Palestinian armed groups, though the majority stemmed from attacks in heavily populated areas.
The UN’s findings highlighted “unprecedented violations of international law, raising the prospect of war crimes and other potential atrocity crimes.”
UN Human Rights Chief explained that these “violations indicate a failure to observe international humanitarian principles, such as the laws of distinction, proportionality, and precaution, which are designed to minimize civilian harm in conflict zones”.
The report documented “8,119 verified deaths in Gaza from November 2023 to April 2024, with children and women accounting for 44% and 26% of the fatalities, respectively. According to the data, most of the deceased were killed in residential areas” according to Nigerian Tribune.
The Palestine Health Ministry, reportedly overseen by Hamas, corroborated the UN’s findings with its report of over 43,300 deaths in the region over the past 13 months, highlighting that children represented about a third of those fatalities.
