The UN human rights office said on Friday that nearly 7 percent of the deaths it verified of Israel war on aerate they were women and children, and he condemned what he called a systematic violation of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

The UN The count since the beginning of the war includes only the deaths he has been able to verify from three sources, and the count continues.

The 8,119 verified casualties are far lower than the toll of more than 43,508 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month war. However, the Palestinian Authority’s health toll is speculated to be an undercount, with thousands believed to be buried under the sprawling rubble in Gaza.

The UN breakdown of victims’ age and gender supports the Palestinian claim that women and children account for a large proportion of those killed in the war.

This finding indicates “a systematic violation of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality,” UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.

“It is essential that allegations of serious violations of international law are dealt with through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence is collected and preserved,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Human. Rights said Volker Turk.

Office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on the report’s findings.

The Israeli military, which began the campaign in the wake of Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, says it is taking care to avoid harming civilians in Gaza.

About one civilian was said to have been killed for every fighter, a ratio he attributed Hamassaying the Palestinian militant group uses civilian facilities. Hamas has denied using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.

Israel’s war on the enclave was brought to the International Court of Justice in The Hague on charges of violating the genocide convention. The court continues to investigate the case after finding it plausible that Israel is violating the convention.

The youngest victim a day old

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters at a briefing in Geneva that the deaths included in the report were verified by three sources including neighbors, family members, local NGOs, hospital records and UN staff . on the ground.

“The numbers are of course massive compared to previous years, so we need time to catch up and check,” he said, adding that he believed the UN’s final tally would likely be similar to the Palestinian one.

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

Overall, those aged 18 or under made up 44 percent of victims, with BOYS aged five to nine, representing the largest age group, followed by those aged 10-14 and then those aged up to and including four.

This broadly reflects the demographics of the enclave, which the report says reflects an apparent failure to take precautions to avoid civilian casualties.

It showed that in 88 percent of cases, five or more people were killed in the same attack, indicating the Israeli military’s use of weapons with a wide-area effect, although it said some deaths may have been the result of stray projectiles from Palestinian armed groups.

(Reuters and New Arab Staff)