The U.N. human rights office has verified that close to 70% of those killed in Gaza by airstrikes, shelling and other hostile actions were children and women, a senior U.N. rights official said.
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that “the age group most represented in verified fatalities was children from 5 to 9 years old.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 100,000 injured since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw some 250 taken hostage, about 100 of whom are still being held. The Gaza ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but has said the majority of those killed are women and children.
Kehris said monitoring by the Geneva-based office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights indicates that the unprecedented level of killing and injury “is a direct consequence of the parties’ choices of methods and means of warfare, and their failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
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“The pattern of strikes indicates that the Israeli Defense Forces have systematically violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack,” she said. “Palestinian armed groups have also conducted hostilities in ways that have likely contributed to harm to civilians.”
Kehris criticized Israel for destroying Gaza’s civilian infrastructure including hospitals, schools, electricity grids, water and sewage facilities, which are protected under international law.
This “contributes directly to the famine risk,” which hunger experts have warned is likely imminent in northern Gaza, she said, also citing the constant and continuing Israeli interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid.
Over the past five weeks, Kehris said, Israeli airstrikes have led to “massive civilian fatalities in northern Gaza,” especially of women, children and older, sick and disabled people. Many were reportedly trapped by Israeli military restrictions and attacks on escape routes, she said.
The U.N. human rights office has warned Israel against targeting locations sheltering significant numbers of civilians, and also against attacking the three major hospitals “while unlawfully restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance to northern Gaza,” Kehris said.