The Fort Worth Press - UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead

USD -
AED 3.672975
AFN 67.999629
ALL 91.111523
AMD 387.173992
ANG 1.80321
AOA 909.050989
ARS 993.981532
AUD 1.513432
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.732815
BAM 1.814622
BBD 2.020134
BDT 119.55725
BGN 1.819905
BHD 0.376937
BIF 2953.98033
BMD 1
BND 1.322416
BOB 6.928865
BRL 5.766401
BSD 1.000557
BTN 84.411909
BWP 13.269623
BYN 3.274262
BYR 19600
BZD 2.016663
CAD 1.39033
CDF 2864.999765
CHF 0.87382
CLF 0.035002
CLP 965.829892
CNY 7.176978
CNH 7.119295
COP 4342.43
CRC 511.783262
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 102.303724
CZK 23.461987
DJF 178.168491
DKK 6.937201
DOP 60.252366
DZD 133.649073
EGP 49.295302
ERN 15
ETB 123.874987
EUR 0.930435
FJD 2.263027
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.77273
GEL 2.724986
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.408425
GIP 0.765169
GMD 71.503286
GNF 8624.896781
GTQ 7.734274
GYD 209.32455
HKD 7.775425
HNL 25.244016
HRK 6.88903
HTG 131.657079
HUF 378.151017
IDR 15642.6
ILS 3.75092
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.36755
IQD 1310.63277
IRR 42105.000051
ISK 138.179728
JEP 0.765169
JMD 158.73708
JOD 0.709101
JPY 152.535028
KES 129.059769
KGS 86.200846
KHR 4062.905919
KMF 455.949608
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1390.696575
KWD 0.30666
KYD 0.833735
KZT 492.526512
LAK 21958.415676
LBP 89595.29045
LKR 292.713929
LRD 189.597424
LSL 17.508745
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.855171
MAD 9.880406
MDL 17.94396
MGA 4628.787738
MKD 57.309615
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 8.011227
MRU 39.85953
MUR 46.401052
MVR 15.41001
MWK 1734.922991
MXN 20.05304
MYR 4.382502
MZN 63.904987
NAD 17.508907
NGN 1676.009833
NIO 36.815394
NOK 10.982745
NPR 135.060308
NZD 1.670805
OMR 0.385001
PAB 1.000547
PEN 3.752888
PGK 4.016478
PHP 58.332017
PKR 277.829488
PLN 4.025694
PYG 7823.343849
QAR 3.64829
RON 4.629098
RSD 108.858451
RUB 97.448212
RWF 1371.497495
SAR 3.756028
SBD 8.347827
SCR 13.561861
SDG 601.466847
SEK 10.798655
SGD 1.324715
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.789528
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 571.812952
SRD 34.969835
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.75479
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.504175
THB 34.175006
TJS 10.635461
TMT 3.5
TND 3.10642
TOP 2.342096
TRY 34.371903
TTD 6.799035
TWD 32.164981
TZS 2669.999712
UAH 41.303836
UGX 3662.089441
UYU 41.797332
UZS 12793.41634
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 44.138463
VND 25275
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 608.607348
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.750139
XOF 608.596055
XPF 110.6503
YER 249.849762
ZAR 17.53885
ZMK 9001.209472
ZMW 27.238567
ZWL 321.999592
  • NGG

    -0.5850

    63.715

    -0.92%

  • RIO

    -3.3910

    64.079

    -5.29%

  • CMSC

    0.0000

    24.68

    0%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0600

    7.15

    -0.84%

  • RBGPF

    0.0100

    61.4

    +0.02%

  • VOD

    -0.0300

    9.29

    -0.32%

  • RELX

    0.3550

    48.015

    +0.74%

  • AZN

    -0.1350

    64.555

    -0.21%

  • BTI

    0.0350

    35.435

    +0.1%

  • CMSD

    0.1100

    25

    +0.44%

  • GSK

    -0.4450

    36.215

    -1.23%

  • BCC

    1.4400

    142.29

    +1.01%

  • SCS

    0.0800

    13.16

    +0.61%

  • BP

    -0.9450

    28.865

    -3.27%

  • JRI

    0.0940

    13.464

    +0.7%

  • BCE

    0.3860

    28.456

    +1.36%

UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead
UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead / Photo: © AFP

UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead

The UN on Friday condemned the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel's war in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.

Text size:

In a fresh report, slammed by Israel, the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) detailed a raft of violations of international law since Hamas's deadly October 7 attack in Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

Many could amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even "genocide", it warned, demanding international efforts to prevent "atrocity crimes" and ensure accountability.

"Civilians in Gaza have borne the brunt of the attacks, including through the initial 'complete siege' of Gaza by Israeli forces," the UN said.

"Conduct by Israeli forces has caused unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness and disease."

It pointed to "the Israeli government’s continuing unlawful failures to allow, facilitate and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and repeated mass displacement".

Israel's mission to the UN in Geneva "categorically" rejected the report, decrying "the inherent obsession of OHCHR with the demonisation of Israel".

- 'Dystopia of destruction' -

"Gaza is now a rubble-strewn landscape," Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN rights office's activities in the Palestinian territories, said via video-link from Amman.

"Within this dystopia of destruction and devastation, those alive are left injured, displaced and starving."

Friday's report also found that Hamas and other armed groups had committed widespread violations that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including seizing hostages, killings, torture and sexual violence.

Those violations, it said, were especially committed in connection with the October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly of civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

- 'Systematic violation' -

The report also tackled the contentious issue of the proportion of civilians among the nearly 43,500 people killed in Gaza so far, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory.

UN agencies have been relying on death tolls provided by the authorities in Hamas-run Gaza due to lack of access. This has sparked harsh criticism from Israel but the UN has repeatedly said the figures are reliable.

The rights office said it had now managed to verify around 10,000 of the more than 34,500 people reportedly killed during the first six months of the war.

"We have so far found close to 70 percent to be children and women," Sunghay said, highlighting the stringent verification methodology that requires at least three separate sources.

He said the findings indicated "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law".

He said 4,700 of the verified fatalities were children and 2,461 were women.

- 'Unprecedented' -

The rights office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing.

Children between the ages of five and nine made up the largest group of victims, with the youngest victim a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman, it said.

Israel says its operations in Gaza target militants and are in line with international law.

But Friday's report stressed that the verified deaths largely Gaza's demographic makeup rather than that of combatants.

This, it said, clearly "raises concerns regarding compliance with the principle of distinction and reflect an apparent failure to take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimise, incidental loss of civilian life".

UN rights chief Volker Turk called on all countries to work to halt the violations and to ensure accountability, including through universal jurisdiction.

"It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies," he said.

"The violence must stop immediately, the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released, and we must focus on flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid."

P.Navarro--TFWP