The United Nations has condemned the rising number of civilian casualties in Gaza amid ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas, with women and children reportedly comprising nearly 70% of the confirmed fatalities.
In a report released Friday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the organization highlighted serious international law violations, including potential war crimes and crimes against humanity, since the conflict’s escalation on October 7, sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel.
The OHCHR report revealed that around 80% of verified civilian deaths in Gaza occurred during Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings. According to the report, children aged five to nine make up the largest group of casualties, while the youngest confirmed victim was a one-day-old infant, and the oldest a 97-year-old woman.
Despite Israel’s insistence that its military operations are conducted in line with international law and efforts to minimize civilian harm, the UN findings indicate a “systematic violation” of humanitarian principles.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN rights office’s activities in Palestinian territories, described Gaza as a “dystopia of destruction,” with civilians facing starvation, injury, and displacement. The report noted that Israel’s initial “complete siege” of Gaza exacerbated the humanitarian crisis by restricting essential aid, food, and medical supplies.
Israel has firmly rejected the UN’s conclusions, criticizing the OHCHR’s assessment as biased and focused on portraying Israel negatively. Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva described the report as an “obsession with the demonization of Israel.”
In addition to assessing the impact of Israeli airstrikes, the OHCHR report also documented serious violations by Hamas and other armed groups, citing hostage-taking, torture, killings, and sexual violence, particularly during the October 7 attacks on Israel. These acts, according to the report, could similarly constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged the international community to work toward halting violence and ensuring accountability through judicial bodies. Turk emphasized the importance of “universal jurisdiction” to address these alleged violations and called for an end to the violence, the release of hostages, and the provision of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
As the Gaza health ministry reports over 43,500 fatalities in the conflict, UN agencies have relied on figures from Hamas-run authorities due to limited access to the area.
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