Nearly 70 percent of deaths in Gaza are women and children: UN

Overall, 44 percent of the victims were children; the youngest was a day-old boy and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has condemned Israel’s “apparent indifference” to the killing of civilians in Gaza, after a new report from his agency showed that nearly 70 percent of verified deaths were of women and children.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published the report on Friday, having verified 8,119 of the more than 34,500 people reportedly killed during the first six months of Israel’s war in Gaza, finding that a high proportion were women and children – the youngest just one day old.

Turk blasted Israel’s “wanton disregard” for the “rules of war … designed to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict”. He urged Israel to comply with its international obligations, noting its current siege of northern Gaza and its decision to sever ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

The report warned that “widespread or systematic” attacks on civilians could amount to “crimes against humanity”.

“And if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, they may also constitute genocide,” it said.