Shocking Data: 70% of Gaza’s Victims Are Women and Children

11th November 2024

2 minutes read

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on Friday showing that about 70% of verified casualties in the ongoing Gaza conflict are women and children, which the UN has described as a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. The statistics also revealed that 70% of buildings and homes in the sector have been destroyed, as reported by the international news agency Reuters.

Systematic Violation

The UN report, covering the first seven months of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, since the onset of hostilities over a year ago, confirmed the deaths of 8,119 individuals, a toll significantly lower than the figure provided by Palestinian health authorities, which claims over 43,000 casualties over the 13-month conflict.

The international agency noted that despite the large discrepancy between the UN’s figure and that of Palestinian authorities, the breakdown of casualties by age and gender supports Palestinian claims that women and children make up a large proportion of those killed in the conflict.

In a statement accompanying the 32-page report, the Commissioner highlighted that these figures reflect a “systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including discrimination and proportionality,” stressing the need for thorough accountability regarding severe violations of international law through impartial and reliable judicial bodies, with all relevant information and evidence collected and preserved.

Israeli Disregard

Israel has not immediately commented on the report’s findings. According to the Israeli military, which launched its campaign in response to a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, resulting in around 1,200 deaths in southern Israel and the abduction of more than 250 hostages, the military takes care to avoid targeting civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli military claims that the number of civilian deaths roughly equals that of combatants, attributing this to Hamas’s alleged use of civilian facilities as human shields. Hamas, however, has denied using civilians or civilian facilities, including hospitals, as human shields.

The report also noted that the youngest confirmed casualty was a one-day-old infant, while the oldest was a 97-year-old woman. Children constitute about 44% of the total casualties, with the 5-9 age group representing the largest portion, followed by children aged 10-14, and then those under four years old.

Israeli Crimes

These statistics broadly reflect the demographic makeup of Gaza, underscoring a clear failure to take necessary precautions to reduce civilian casualties. The report found that in 88% of cases, five or more individuals were killed in a single attack, indicating the Israeli military‘s use of weapons with a wide-area impact. However, the report also noted that some casualties may have resulted from stray shells fired by Palestinian armed groups.