Nearly 70% of the dead in the Gaza Strip since November 2023. until April this year, the United Nations said after a detailed examination of the data from a partial count of the victims of Israel's war against "Hamas", reported France Press.
The new report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also includes a long list of violations of international law that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and perhaps even "genocide". The world organization has reviewed 8,119 of the more than 34,500 victims who died in the first six months of the war, and found that "nearly 70% were women and children".
"We believe this is representative of the overall distribution of fatalities. The ratio is similar to that reported by the authorities in Gaza," Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the High Commission, emphasized.
The number and type of casualties in Gaza has been the subject of regular and lively debate since the beginning of the war, AFP recalls. The UN and many countries believe that the daily data reported by the "Hamas" health authorities, are reliable. Israel has questioned them since the beginning of the conflict.
According to the High Commissioner, the proportion of women and children among the victims speaks of a "systematic violation of the basic principles of international humanitarian law".
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, states that 80% of the victims in the verified partial census data died in attacks on apartment blocks or similar buildings, and nearly 90% of those killed were victims of strikes , in which 5 or more people died.
However, the report notes that the high proportion of victims in apartment blocks may be due to the data verification methodology used by the UN, which requires at least three independent sources. Collecting and verifying data on people who died in other circumstances is more difficult, the report notes.
However, it emphasizes that the proportion of women and children among the victims reflects the demographic distribution of the population of Gaza, not the fighters of "Hamas".
Israel says its operations in Gaza are directed against "Hamas" fighters. Israeli authorities vowed to destroy the organization after the attack on October 7 last year, which left 1,206 dead.