70% of victims of Israeli war in Gaza are children, women: UN

The office published the figures in a 32-page report that covers the six months from November 2023 to April 2024.

About 80 percent of the victims were killed in residential buildings, out of which 44 percent were children and 26 percent women, the report said.

Most of the verified deaths in Gaza were children between the ages of five and nine.

The youngest victim whose death was verified by UN monitors was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman, the report added.

A UN statement said Israel’s continuation of these attacks “demonstrates an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare selected”.

“The International Court of Justice, in its series of orders on provisional measures, underscored the international obligations of Israel to prevent, protect against and punish acts of genocide and associated prohibited conduct,” according to the report.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk stressed the imperative for Israel to fully and immediately comply with those obligations.

Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief called it “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”.

“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 and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved,” Turk continued.

On May 24, the ICJ ordered Israel to halt its aggression on Rafah, establish humanitarian corridors and allow the world body to investigate genocide.

Israel continues its genocidal onslaught on Gaza, killing over 43,500 Palestinians and rendering the enclave almost uninhabitable.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in the blockaded enclave.