UN finds that 70% of those killed in Gaza are women and children

Nearly 70% of the people killed in the war in Gaza are women and children, according to a UN analysis of verified deaths that highlights the heavy civilian toll of the ongoing conflict.

- Sarah Johnson

In the new report, the most detailed analysis of its kind yet, the UN human rights office said it had verified 8,119 of those killed during the first six months of the war in Gaza. Of the fatalities, 3,588 were children and 2,036 were women. The youngest victim was a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman.

The number marks deaths verified so far and is therefore lower than the 43,000 deaths registered by the Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month conflict, but backs the assertion that women and children represent a large proportion of those killed.

The figures came as the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said people had been pushed "beyond breaking point," with families, widows and children enduring "almost unparalleled suffering".

The UN said the figures indicated "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law".

Of the verified deaths, 7,607 were in residential buildings or similar housing, out of which 44% were children, 26% women and 30% men, said the report released yesterday. Children aged five to nine represent the single biggest age category, followed by those aged 10-14, and then those aged four and below.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the attacks in Gaza, the report said, including through the siege by Israel, repeated mass displacement, the Israeli government's failure to allow in humanitarian aid, and bombing.